Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Foreign infidels may have been the targets but nine of the 10 people killed in the Jakarta bombing on Tuesday were Indonesians just going about their daily life in the Indonesian capital.
Most were drivers and security guards with young families that now will have to fend for themselves. Four of them were drivers for the renowned Blue Bird taxi company. They were waiting for fares outside the lobby when the car bomb ripped through the hotel, sending off lethal fireballs that engulfed them. Horrified onlookers saw screaming taxi drivers engulfed by fire in their cars.
One of the victims, Mr Harna, had a wife and three children aged between 18 months and six. Three others, Eyo Zakaria, Hidayat and Miftah Tobiin, were also young fathers. Their ages ranged from 27 to 40.
Father of two Slamet Heriyanto, 35, was working as a security guard for the PT Permata Birama Sakti next door when the blast killed him.
Private driver Johaness Boelan, 55, was actually thinking of retiring before he was caught by the blast, according to his family. He stayed at work to earn enough to pay for treatment for his 17-year old daughter who suffers from leukaemia.
Friends and families could hardly comprehend their losses, saying the attack was almost too absurd to believe. "What have we done wrong? He is just a father trying to make ends meet for his family," said Mr Johannes' wife, Frida Sopacua.
Another driver, Al Muhaddar, a close friend of Mr Harna, was quoted by The Australian newspaper as saying: "I am a driver, a stupid man about these matters but I want to ask, where is the satisfaction for those people when drivers like us are killed?"
Most of those interviewed were sceptical about the government giving them financial assistance. Any compensation would likely come from their employers instead, they felt.
Blue Bird spokesman Arvin Ardianto told The Straits Times the company had agreed to cover funeral costs as well as medical bills for the other four drivers who had been hospitalised. The company would also set aside about 30 million rupiah for each family of the dead drivers and award scholarships to their children. The families were also entitled to insurance payments and funds donated from other company employees.
Other parties also offered help. The US Embassy in Jakarta has pledged US$500,000 in assistance for the victims of the bombings and some private charity groups are preparing to raise funds. The government has said it would foot medical bills for all blast victims.
Assistance would include hospitalisation, medication, surgeries, and periodic checks for a year after the release from the hospital. It would not cover plastic surgery for burn victims, however.
Some families of the dozens of people injured in the attack were shocked when told they would have to pay for costly treatment. Some hospitals have charged victims for certain treatments and medications.
On the day of the bombing, they even asked their patients to place a money deposit before agreeing to treat them. "We have just been hit by a tragedy, the hospitals should help lift our burden not give us more headaches," said one of the victims' relatives.
In the past, disbursement of financial assistance for victims of natural disasters and terrorist attacks has been slow and often less than promised amounts after corrupt officials took cuts.