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The death of the innocents

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Witnessing the violent face of Indonesia

02/20/2005.  Indonesia that I used to know, at least from what my elementary school teacher told me years ago, was a civilized and peaceful country. And Indonesians, as my teacher usually kept telling us, and to a large extend was true according to my observation, were usually humane and kind.

But just as almost everything in life, things can change as time goes by. Maybe Indonesia—and Indonesians—these days are no longer the ones I knew 12 to 20 years ago. Thirteen years ago, I still felt relatively safe if I took a cab at 2AM to go out buying some food from the downtown in Jakarta. I sometimes walked along the Hayam Wuruk street after 1AM, then stop a cab, asked the cabby to make some rounds, then dropped me at Kuningan—at 2 or 3AM. I always like to chat with cabbies. It seems they have original, not fake, life stories to tell.

Not in 2004. I have been told to be cautious with cab drivers, especially around kota (downtown). Also, “be cautious at red lights; be vigilant at beggars; and etc. etc.” were the common advice I received from friends and family in Jakarta.  Have the recent hardships, crisis, and tensions affected the lives of people, and they way they view life and their fellow Indonesians, as well? Perhaps.

One thing is clear, though, to which the situation described above is absolutely pale in comparison to the real tragedies occurred in the land. A significant number of innocent lives have lost during the last eight years, from the chaos in 1998 where people were burnt to death, and women were raped and killed; the beheadings in Kalimantan; the killings of the innocents in Aceh; the mass killings in East Timor; to the brutal killings in Moluccas and Poso. Whatever one calls them, whether they are religious-driven conflicts, or political ones, or you name it, one thing is clear: innocent people, from babies, children to women, were died in vain. And they were mostly lay people.

Put aside natural tragedies such as the recent tsunami, the total innocent people killed in Indonesia during the last eight years may well exceed one hundred thousands. Why did they all have to die? And who were responsible for their death? These are not easy to answer, especially the latter. Even if we assume that the House of Representatives and the government establish investigative commission after commission and spend years after years to find out who were the villains, we are very skeptical that the villains will ever be brought to justice. Politics, power and justice seem to be not friendly to the innocents.

Perhaps less complicated than trying to find the culprits is what should we learn from the atrocities?

Even a slaughtered chicken, if we think of it as a soulless creation, is good for human’s health. After all, we eat chicken every day for our diet. What about the death of the innocents? Were they just died to no avail? Yes, if we never learn from their death, never try to prevent future atrocities, and never bring the killers to justice.

If we assume that one hundred thousands of innocent people have died in the last eight years, and if there were 10 people on average who were directly affected by the death of each of the innocent, the total number of people who were directly affected is one million. If we think of it economically and considering its multiplier effect, then this can affect our nation’s productivity.

But more than that, a bigger concern is do we tolerate killing(s)? Are we so get used to it that the killing of an innocent person is no longer worth of any justice? This of course not only sends a signal that one can get way with murder in Indonesia, but also it indicates that deep inside of our rich culture we have barbarian behavior.

I remember in 2001 when the orgy of beheadings occurred in Kalimantan. I was seeking a venture capital to establish a business in Indonesia. As I presented my business proposal to the director of a business development in Iowa City, US, the director said skeptically (from my recollection), “It’s hard to find entities here which will support this idea because I think only angels want to invest in Indonesia these days”. He was no joking. The pictures about Indonesia on CNN and other news network were all the beheadings and the riots. By looking at Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) alone, the values of FDI since 1998 have never reached half of its 1997’s values.

President Yudhoyono has vowed to make changes to bring in foreign investment. The president vows to reduce the red tape that comes with doing business in an effort to boost the country's competitiveness among other Southeast Asian nations. The bewildering array of customs laws, taxes and local levies, which foreign executives and trade partners have long said were barriers to investing in Indonesia, are all to be reviewed.

While those are all important, there is another significant factor that needs to be taken seriously: security and justice for killers.  After all, who wants to put his or her money in a place where he or she does even dare to go?

Bring back Indonesia to where it belongs—a civilized and peaceful country, and let’s put back the old face of Indonesians—humane and kind. Those are the necessary conditions to advance the nation.

Related article: Witnessing the violent face of Indonesia

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