Candra Malik – Anyone want a piece of Noordin M Top? Business savvy locals in Kepuhsari village in Solo, Central Java, have opened up small stalls selling "terrorist cuisine" after Southeast Asia's most wanted terrorist and three others were killed during a police raid in the area last week.
One of the dishes on offer is Noordin M Top's pecel, a steamed vegetable salad with sweet peanut sauce. The stall is owned by Sudarso, a local whose house is directly in front of the building where Noordin was killed along with three other terror suspects.
Pecel is not the only terrorist-themed dish at Sudarso's stall. There is also "terrorist lotis," a fruit salad with spicy chili sauce. Sudarso said he named it so because the sauce is so spicy that it "terrorizes the tongue."
He also sells vegetable fritters called Bakwan Urwah. Urwah was the name of one of the men killed in the raid.
"Urwah is also the acronym for 'untuk rakyat bawah' (for the lower class people) because our fritter is not as rich as the ones sold in restaurants," he said.
Sudarso's daughter, Putri, said that they did not initally give all of their dishes terrorist labels, but finally caved in after requests from many customers. Pupon, Sudarso's wife, said that their capital was only Rp 300,000 ($30), but on the first day of business they earned almost Rp 1 million. Nowadays they make around Rp 750,000 a day.
"I never met Noordin. I never saw his face. But his death has brought us a lot of good," Pupon said. "Our pecel is sold out and our neighbors also make a fortune. The young men who run the [unofficial] parking business make millions of rupiah each day," she said.
Pupon she could not care less about her village's new nickname, the 'Solo Terrorist Tourism Village.' "What matters the most is no one from our village was involved in a terrorist network or joined any terrorism acts. We didn't ask people to come and have a picnic in our village. Are we to blame for taking the opportunity?" she asked.
A visitor from Jakarta said they admired the family's creativity. "My family laughed so hard when we read the sign 'Noordin M Top's Pecel.' It is very creative. For us, it's not important how the pecel tastes, what's important is that we can chew Noordin M Top," said Tonny Pradjoko, who visited with his wife and three children.
"Ibu Pupon should have made a super spicy chili sauce and named it 'bomb explosion chili sauce,' " said Tonny's daughter, much to the amusement of other customers.
The visitors who come to the village not only buy the terrorist-themed food – - they also take pictures of themselves near the stall as a proof that they have visited the terrorist house. "We hope the house will be turned into a terrorist museum, it'll be good for our business," Sudarso said.