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Deadly Blasts Rock Jakarta Hotels

Posted on July 17, 2009
Filed Under International News | 4 Comments

Tom Wright – Eight people were killed and 53 wounded, including a number of foreigners, when explosions ripped through two hotels here Friday, in Indonesia’s worst terrorist attack in four years.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono linked the bombing of the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels to attempts to destabilize the country after presidential elections last week and vowed swift action against those responsible. “I’m confident just like when we have uncovered [terrorists] in the past, the perpetrators and those who moved this act of terrorism will be caught and brought to justice,” said in a televised speech.

Authorities were acting on the assumption that the bombing was carried out by Muslim extremists, said a senior counterterrorism official.

Market reaction was muted as analysts kept their long-term positive outlook on Indonesia’s growth and the reformist agenda of Mr. Yudhoyono, saying the attacks appear isolated. Still, the incident marks a major political challenge for an administration that has been credited for bringing stability to a sometimes-turbulent nation.

Australia urged citizens to reconsider travel there. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described the attacks as “barbaric.”

“We continue to receive credible information that terrorists could be planning attacks in Indonesia and that Bali remains an attractive target for terrorists,” an Australian foreign ministry statement read. Singapore urged citizens to be vigilant.

A police spokesman Friday said the suspects in the Marriott bombing were staying in the hotel disguised as guests, though he didn’t give a number of people suspected to be involved. Police detonated what they described as a homemade explosive found in room 1808. The spokesman described the hotels’ security measures as adequate.

The first bomb was detonated at the Marriott at 7:47 a.m. local time at the lounge in the lobby, near a meeting of foreign business people. That explosion killed five. The second bomb was detonated at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel 10 minutes later, on a second floor restaurant, killing two. One person later died in a hospital. The streets outside the two hotels, which sit adjacent to each other in a new business district in central part of the capital city, were covered in shattered glass and debris.

Eighteen of the wounded were foreigners, police said. It was immediately clear how many of the dead were foreigners. Police revised the death count to eight from nine Friday afternoon.

The dead included Timothy Mackay, chief executive of PT Holcim Indonesia, the local unit of Swiss cement maker Holcim Ltd., a spokesman for the company said.

Mr. Mackey was among several victims attending an Indonesian business forum held at the J.W. Marriott Friday morning. The meeting, organized by consulting firm CastleAsia, was part of a series of events sponsored by the firm that gathers prominent business executives and political leaders to discuss Indonesian affairs.

James Castle, CastleAsia’s founder and an analyst on Indonesian affairs, was among those injured. An employee at CastleAsia said he was recovering at a Jakarta hospital from unspecified injuries. Another guest, Noke Kiroyan, a former chairman of Rio Tinto’s Indonesian operations, was also there and taken to a Jakarta hospital to be treated for injuries.

One guest, a 27-year-old Indian businessman, said his company selected the Marriott because “it was supposed to be the most secure in Jakarta.”

He said he was staying on the 26th floor. He heard a loud explosion around 8 a.m., and rushed to the lobby. On the way, he said he saw shattered glass around the restaurant, where people had been enjoying breakfast, and saw five people lying face down, covered in blood. “I was too shocked to check” if they were alive or dead, he said. Afterward, he rushed out of the hotel and waited with a large crowd outside, dressed in his boxer shorts. He said he was able to reach several friends by mobile phone who were still in the hotel, and who said they were okay.

The attacks represent a serious setback for Indonesia, which hasn’t suffered a major terrorist attack since the 2005 bombings of seafood restaurants on a Bali beach. The JW Marriott was the target of an earlier bombing in 2003, in which 12 people died.

President Yudhoyono is popular for restoring law and order to Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population, since coming to power in 2004. Initial returns showed that 60% of voters opted to reelect Mr. Yudhoyono, who came to power in 2004 vowing to improve Indonesia’s security situation after a series of terrorist attacks by Islamists.

In a televised speech Friday, Mr. Yudhoyono said it was still unclear who was responsible, but that intelligence officials were aware plans for violent efforts to oppose the election results. “It is known that there is a plan to conduct violence and general actions against the law in connection with the election result,” Mr. Yudhoyono said in a speech carried live on local television. He did not elaborate but added that some unnamed parties hope to destabilize Indonesia in a similar way to Iran, where protesters in recent weeks took to the streets to condemn election results there.

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