Bomb blast outside Australian Embassy in Jakarta

Producer: Yvonne Gomez
First broadcast: 9 September 04, Radio Singapore International

A car bomb exploded outside the Australian embassy in central Jakarta this morning.

The blast killed at least nine people and injured about 170 others. Personnel at the embassy were evacuated immediately.

For a groundlevel idea of the situation, Valarie Tan spoke to RSI’s Eva Mazrieva who is in Jakarta.

EM: What I can report right now is that more than 10 office buildings have been damaged – windows blown out everywhere and around 2 thousand people evacuated from these office buildings. Jakarta police chief said that there’s a big possibility that it’s a blast coming from a car bomb or even a suicide bomb. There are 3 people injured who are police officers securing the security door infront of Plaza 89. This Plaza 89 is located infront of the Australian Embassy in Kuningan Street where many other foreign embassies, foreign office consulate representatives, banking and other offices are located. Its in the heart of Jakarta.

What’s the ground speculation about who’s behind this bomb blast?

EM: According to the National Police Chief of General Policy, this bomb is also related to Dr. Azahari, the bomb-maker who’s not been caught till now. So there’s the possibility that this is a Jemaah Islamiyah thing. But there’s official statement about it so far. That’s the speculation amongst journalists. So far, we’re still waiting for President Megawati who plans to return home as soon as possible from Brunei Darussalam.

You said that this is at the heart of Jakarta, at the business district, was security very lax, at that time, this morning?

EM: Oh no. Actually since the Marriott bombing, every office building especially the foreign office representatives like UNDP or even office, they placed around 10 security officers like police or sometimes even military in front of the front gate. That’s why I am quite surprised that they choose today because usually Thursday and Friday are quite calm whether the police officers are still there. The police officers are not only placed there but also at some entertainment and shopping malls like SOGO which is also near here. The Jakarta Police Chief said that from this incident, they can learnt that actually placing people in front of the security door is not good enough because during a bomb blast, the police officer might be killed. And also affect the people who are just passers-by. But they haven’t formulated any action about it.

RSi’s Eva Mazrieva reporting from Jakarta.

Both Australia and the United States last week raised new warnings urging their citizens and officials to avoid Western hotels in Jakarta, following fresh concerns that they could be hit by terrorists.

Australia has also been on alert for possible strikes ahead of national elections to be held on October the 9th.

So how can the blast still occur in light of these advisories?

A question I asked Professor Carlyle Thayer, Foundation Director of the Defence Studies Forum at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

CT: Well security has been stepped up. The Australian embassy, which I recently visited, is heavily fortified. But its located at the central business district. Preliminary reports indicated that it was a suicide bomber, a torso was found. You cannot protect yourself completely against someone who’s willing to blow himself up.

Is there a reason why the Australians are targeted this time?

CT: Well Indonesia is a large country where there are a large number of Australians. One could speculate as to why. Australia is on the forefront of the war against terrorism. Its lent support to the Indonesian government to round up the JI network. Australian ministers have been quite vocal in pushing the imprisonment and punishment of the figures involved. And Abu Bakar Bashir has just been recommitted for trial. The timing of Bashir, the anniversary of 9-11, and the Australian elections – they’re all there. It’s a question of whether Australia is safer now than if it hadn’t committed to the Iraq war or whether if Australia would have been a target anyway. The latter point is what the Australian government argues. We’re left with, anyway, roughly 4-5 hundred JI officials still unaccounted for in the region, with the core of them with military training with the motivation of the hatred of Australians or other Westerners to attempt an incident like this.

How are Australians reacting to this?

CT: It’s a kind of shock. There’s concern that Australian school children in internationals in the country could be targeted. But past indications have been that big events like this have not been followed up with other attacks.

Travel advisories have been issued to Australians recently with regard to holiday destinations like Jakarta, will more drastic measures be taken this time?

CT: The Australian government cannot prevent its citizens from traveling. It can only issue travel advisories. The public at large does not have the capacity to know how to read those properly and be alert. And so what really could be done is to assess the level of threat – is this a one-off? Besides, the embassies within the past week have been issuing warnings to their own staff that something was imminent. Other than fortifying and stepping up alert, you can’t stop a suicide bomber in a busy business district, unless you stop all traffic in Jakarta and you can’t do that.