Ezra Sihite, Farouk Arnaz, Hangga Brata, Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Anita Rachman – A politician has criticized Indonesia's intelligence agency's for failing to prevent a suicide bomber from striking a church packed with worshipers in Solo, Central Java, over the weekend.
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker Tubagus Hasanuddin, deputy chairman of House of Representatives (DPR) Commission I, which oversees security affairs, said police and National Intelligence Agency (BIN) had failed.
"Intelligence should have predicted that the bomb would explode," Tubagus said of Sunday's attack that killed the bomber and wounded 28 churchgoers at the Bethel Injil Sepenuh church in Kepunton, Solo.
Tubagus said he believed internal problems within the organizations allowed the bombing to occur. He said he would support President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono if he ordered an internal investigation and ensured the results were released to the public.
Deputy House Speaker Pramono Anung, also of the opposition PDI-P, was also critical of the organizations, describing their preventative actions as "very weak." He said the nation was obliged to protect all its citizens, including minorities.
Counterterrorism officials have linked Sunday's suicide bombing at a church in Solo to a deadly clash in Ambon earlier this month.
An officer with Densus 88, the police's elite counterterrorism squad, said on Sunday that early analysis indicated the motive for the attack on the Kepunton Bethel Church Indonesia, which killed the bomber and one other person, "is connected to the Ambon incident and the perpetrator is likely from the same radical groups that we know today."
"This is an act of vengeance," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Ambon clash on Sept. 11 erupted after rumors spread by text message that a Muslim man killed in a traffic accident had been murdered by Christians. Seven were killed in the ensuing clash and thousands fled the city.
Separately, a source with the Solo Police's bomb squad told the Jakarta Globe that the suspected bomber appeared to be about 35 years old and that the scene was similar to a suicide attack in April carried out by a man named Sharif, who detonated a bomb at a police mosque in Cirebon, West Java.
"His head was still attached to the body and his stomach burst. His organs were hanging slightly out. He had no beard, almost similar to the case of Sharif," the investigator said.
Sharif has been linked to the radical Tawhid wal Jihad network, believed to have been led by suspected terrorist Sigit Qurdowi before he was gunned down by police in May.
Police suspect Sigit was also involved in the bombing of a church and a police station in Klaten, Central Java, in December 2010.
In a televised address on Sunday night, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono confirmed the links to the Cirebon incident.
"The investigation so far shows that the suicide bomber was a member of a terrorist organization in Cirebon, the same group that carried out the [mosque bombing in April]," he said.
He urged police to crack down on the terror cells in Cirebon and Solo. He also called on the authorities to treat all indications or threats of terrorist acts seriously.
"I've also asked for an internal investigation of the police's actions, because I've been told that the intelligence unit was given a warning and the police chief had instructed all police forces [to be on alert]," he said.
"Don't ignore any information whatsoever. You have to be responsive and take steps to prevent things like this from happening."
He also stressed that the bombing could never be justified on religious grounds. "Evil doesn't have anything to do with religion or ethnicity. Evil is evil, terrorism is terrorism," Yudhoyono said.
Insp. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam, the National Police spokesman, said police would deploy personnel to stand guard at all churches across the country in the wake of the bombing.
Witnesses said the bomber browsed jihadist Web sites at an Internet cafe 200 meters from the church before the bombing.
Harun, an operator at the Solonet cafe, said the man was there from 8:37 a.m. until 10:56 a.m. "About 15 to 20 minutes after he left, we heard the blast," Harun said.
He said the man's browsing history showed he had viewed a video of Osama bin Laden, titled "Dying a Martyr is Man's Greatest Aspiration," on the jihadist site arrahmah.com.
Rina Kristiningsih, another operator, said the man left his bag behind when he left. She said when she jokingly asked if he had a bomb in there, "he suddenly left in a hurry, but I didn't think anything of it at the time."
Other witnesses reported seeing a man pacing back and forth in front of the church shortly before the blast. In addition to the two fatalities, 22 churchgoers were reportedly injured in the attack.
Nathan, a congregation member, said he heard a loud bang at 11:30 a.m., just as churchgoers were leaving the service. He said he was inside the church when the blast occurred and saw several people lying severely injured near the entrance.
Slamet Effendy Yusuf, deputy chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Islamic organization, condemned the attack as going against Islamic teaching.
He said with inter-religious tensions running high in some areas, he was worried "about the possibility there are people who might try to exploit this."
Slamet called on authorities to work more closely with moderate Islamic organizations as a way of keeping a finger on the pulse of popular Islamic sentiment.
Din Syamsuddin, chairman of Muhammadiyah, the country's second-biggest Islamic group, called on followers of all religions to not be baited by those trying to foment inter-religious strife.
Theo Sambuaga, chairman of the Golkar Party leadership board, condemned the bombing. "It was an act of violence meant to terrorize and repress believers, destroy harmony, scare the people and challenge the authority of the state," he said.