Today's Memory, September 13, 2000: Bomb Explosion On Jakarta Stock Exchange

The Indonesia Stock Exchange, which was named the Jakarta Stock Exchange, was once bombed by sympathizers of the Free Aceh Movement on September 13, 2000. (Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA Memories of today, 23 years ago, September 13, 2000, a bomb exploded at the Jakarta Stock Exchange (BEJ) building. The incident shocked the whole of Indonesia. Instead of taking only lives, the bomb actually made the Indonesian capital market waver.

Previously, bomb terror often occurred in the era of President Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur)'s administration. The bombing was carried out randomly. Anything can be a target. Even the house of the Philippine Ambassador (Ambassador) was also hit by a bomb. The terror was allegedly due to the poor treatment of the Philippines to the Muslim community Moro.

Bomb terror is increasingly rife in the era of Gus Dur's administration. The bombing was carried out with various purposes. In fact, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) building in South Jakarta was once the target of the bombing in July 2000.

The bombing occurred one hour after Hutomo Mandala Putera or Tommy Suharto was questioned. The narrative made the government suspect that the bomb was not carried out by certain radical groups.

The AGO bombing was considered an attack from a former New Order (Orba) sympathizer. They are described as disliked by the AGO's action to examine Tommy Suharto in the case of purchasing land in Citeureup, Bogor. Land known as the location of the Sentul International Circuit was built.

Not yet finished with the AGO's bomb business, another bombing emerged. The bomb exploded again on August 1, 2000. However, the bomb attack actually appeared at the home of the Philippine Ambassador in Menteng, Central Jakarta. The incident shocked the whole country. Moreover, the Philippine Ambassador to Indonesia, Leonides T Caday became a victim.

The incident made the government dizzy by looking for the mastermind. The bombing of the AGO and the home of the Philippine Ambassador was considered to have different motives. The motive for bombing the home of the Philippine Ambassador is allegedly due to the country's poor attitude towards the Muslim community Moro.

The damage caused by the bomb explosion in front of the Philippine Ambassador's house for Indonesia last week is still visible. But it's just a matter of time to fix it. The occupants of the house in the Menteng area are not people who are stressed. Even though they moved for a moment, they couldn't be disturbed by the pathetic Maluku refugees.

However, the public's tense fear of the emergence of follow-up bombs, or rampant violence and terror, may still take a long time to quell. One way to reduce it is to reveal the veil behind the bomb explosion. Who has the bomb, who detonated it, who is the target, what is the motive? The Indonesian police have indeed seriously investigated this case. The problem is, the public has already given a bad impression on our police in uncovering cases of this kind of explosion," wrote Tempo Magazine report entitled Looking for Who is the Target of the Bomb (2000).

Consecutive grief due to bombings like non-stop. Bombings in Jakarta again occurred. The bomb exploded at BEJ (now: Indonesia Stock Exchange) on September 13, 2002. The bomb killed 15 people. The injured were up to 90 people.

Even the impact is not only on the loss of life. BEJ, which incidentally is the center of the Indonesian capital market and global exchanges, has stopped operating for a while. This means that the Indonesian capital market has suffered heavy losses because stock transactions cannot be carried out.

The government is dizzy, it's no joke. They again guessed who the perpetrators of the bombing were. The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) was brought up. However, President Gus Dur actually suspected that the bombing was carried out by Suharto's sympathizers. This is because the bomb exploded to coincide with Suharto's trial related to corruption.

Gus Dur mentioned the possibility of relating certain people to the bomb explosion at the BEJ Building. One of the names is called Tommy Suharto. Apart from Tommy, the police were also ordered to arrest Ali Baagil, a habib on Jalan Kramat Kwitang, Central Jakarta.

Gus Dur did not specify the evidence in his pocket. He only suspected that the bombing at BEJ, as well as the previous cases, was triggered by the Soeharto court. Gus Dur revealed: I want to be honest with the people themselves. Why do you want to be brought to justice every time Pak Harto wants to be brought to court, how come there is a fuss," explained Virdika Rizky Utama in the bookjerat Gus Dur (2020).