Well, I’ve been neglecting this blog for quite some time, waiting for the Oscar nominations. Now that they’re out, I’ll soon be reviewing the nominees, which I’ve already seen most of through screeners. But now, I think this is a good moment to start another idea for this blog. besides movie reviews, I’ll be writing things that, as far as I know, only happens or exists in indonesia, hence the hashtag #onlyinindonesia. For this first entry, I’ll tell you about how Indonesians, especially Jakartans, are not influenced by the terror act yesterday.
The terror attacks of January 14, 2016 happened in the Sarinah area, MH. Thamrin Boulevard, Central Jakarta. The area is included in the ring-1 area of jakarta where the security is supposed to be heaviest due to its position; near to both the Presidential Palace and the Sudirman Central Business District. The particular intersection is famous for being the favorite place for expatriates to hang out in Central Jakarta.
I was at work in Roxy when the attacks happened, safely about 7 kilometers away. But as events unfold, there so many hoaxes floating around that even one of the national news TV aired one of them about other attacks in Palmerah, Slipi and Kuningan, which turned out to be a total bull. I thought that if those other attacks were true, then it was exactly like Paris two months earlier. But I started to question that news because no other news outlet published similar stories.
Although the attack, and the hoaxes, mind you, did cause panic, Jakartans very quickly revert back to our nature of being on the borderline between being overly curious (we call it ‘kepo’ in Bahasa Indonesia), and utterly neglectful of ourselves to being crazi enough. Even before the day ended yesterday, there were already images circulating that sounded defiance toward fear. People show their anger in news comments, but many of the more creative people turned the attention into comedy and comedic irony. Some of which are;
People’s spectator mentality still wins
As you can see in the image, even as police are having cross fire with the terrorists, people yield to their “kepo” and stand to look, as if there’s a free spectacle. They don’t run away, even though they know there’s the risk of getting hit by stray bullets or bomb shrapnel.
Merchants do business “as usual”
Jakarta is quite distinguishable by its street merchants, selling food and drinks. Even with police still sweeping the area for possible remaining bombs, street merchant instead rush to the scene, offering their products to everybody from the police and army personnel to the “kepo” people. One story even made it big; about a street satay vendor who has his cart a mere hundred meters away from the police station that got bombed. Indonesian netizen spread his picture with a caption embodying him as the symbol of the #KamiTidakTakut hashtag (translated into We are Not Afraid). The irony is that one online media get a hold of the old man and interviewed him, asking why didn’t he run when the attacks happened. He simply answered that he’s already old and even pushing his cart was already a hard task to do, so he merely entrusted his life to God. It was not that he was not afraid, it was rather that he was ready to die at any moment.
People’s narcissistic mentality still wins
Yep, you see it right. Amid the tension in the air as police are still sweeping the area for other possible bombs, people who got into the site still snapped selfies.
Fail to focus
The image on the bottom is a snapshot on two police officers storming into the scene just right in front of the Starbucks cafe, right after the cross fire which killed the two terrorists who had their bomb explode in their own face. The irony is that Indonesian social medias failed to focus on the urgency at hand and instead focused on the looks of the officers, creating the #kaminaksir hashtag (translated roughly into “We fall in love”). People also looked at the wrong details, focusing on the officers’ apparel, which were apparently a shouldered COACH gun bag, and Adidas and Gucci sneakers.
Other stories
Some companies instruct their employees not to use the hashtag #pray4jakarta or similar ones, in hopes of preventing economic impact to the Indonesian Rupiah and stock exchange. Mobile messenger apps are littered with broadcasts of funny pics and videos mocking ISIS; one even spread the Surat Cinta untuk ISIS (translated into Love Letter to ISIS) which advises the group to stop trying to terrorize Indonesian for our lives are already terrors themselves. There’s a tweet from a movie director Daniel Ziv which said that amid the terror attacks in Jakarta there’s instead a heap of courage inspiring memes, suggesting that Indonesians have abundant surplus of graphic designers. Indonesian medias are now doing a great job in downplaying the news about the attacks, diminishing the fear effect the terror attacks intended to have. As I also did today, Jakartans normally go to work as if nothing big happened just yesterday
That’s it. #onlyinindonesia will you find a people this unique, if not crazy, LOL. Our experiences with terrorism, especially since the 2003 Bali bombings, have forged us to view terrorism as something ordinary and not to be afraid of.
This Too Will Pass 