Indonesian President to push ahead with domestic reform agenda
Updated
Indonesian Presidential advisor Dino Djalal says Friday's twin hotel bombings will not deter the President from continuing with his reform agenda. Mr Djala was one of the first to arrive at the bombed hotels accompanied by Indonesia's head of police and also the head of the country's intelligence service.
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DJALAL: It was a heart breaking scene that we saw, the room where the epicentre of the blast seemed to have happened was absolutely destroyed , there were still bodies that were laying around that had not been collected yet.
WERDEN: And has anyone claimed responsibility Dino?
DJALAL: No one has claimed responsibility at the moment what the urgent task is for the police to collect all the forensic evidence, the area has been sealed now, the bodies hae been taken out, the police are now studying and collecting all the evidence for the investigation but at the moment it's too early to tell who is behind this, we don't even know at the moment the modus operandi in terms of whether this is a suicide bomb or how they did it, how they got in, all we know is that it seems to be a co-ordinated attack because the two attacks happened just across the street from one another and just around the same time as one another, which is 7.45 for Marriott and shortly after at the Ritz Carlton hotel.
WERDEN: But the Marriott was the scene of an earlier bombing which the JI did claim responsibility for ?
DJALAL: Yes well at the moment no-one has claimed responsibility, what the police will do ofcourse is two things, first they will build the crime case up, bottom up as in Bali bomb case, collect all the evidence, make analysis and then move on to what is the motivation behind this, secondly to be open to all possibilities in terms of who is the motive and who is behind this, it's very difficult to determine that in detail.
WERDEN: And you mentioned the epicentre, where was the epicentre, some were saying it's the basement others were saying it's the foyer of the hotel?
DJALAL: The area that we saw was a lounge to the right side of the lobby, this was a piano lounge and the bomb from that area or below but what I saw from physical or visual observation that this was the area that was mostly damaged, in terms of the degree of destruction that happened but in terms of where the bomb was actually placed at, that remains to be determined by the police.
WERDEN: And given the fact that the Marriott has been an earlier target and both hotels are opposite each other, are there security cameras in the streets around the hotels?
DJALAL: Yes there area and ofcourse Marriott hotel and the Ritz Carlton are the most guarded places in Jakarta and again I don't want to speculate or touch on the method of police investigation but judging from our past experience, the police have been able to do a good job in terms of uncovering who is behind it and apprehending them, y'know the Bali bomb, the bomb at the Australian embassy, the second Bali bomb and others in fact they have been successful in terms of preventive measures, there have been arrests of some terror cells in Sumatra and in Java and other places in recent years so they've had some successes and good track record and today is a blow to us and to all Indonesians but I'm quite confident they will be able to find out who is behind this and catch the perpetrators.
WERDEN: Dino is today a significant date in the Indonesian calender, is there any significance about the day this happened?
DJALAL: Today is the 17th of July, the only thing it is significant is that we are in the space of time where the election result are being counted, the election that took place on the 8th of July and results will be announced at the end of July so I think that is pre-occupying the political scene at the moment, again I don't know what to make of it ofcourse.
WERDEN: It is obvious though the incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhyono has won with an increased mandate?
DJALAL: I think so, from where I am sitting it's obvious he's winning by a very large margin.
WERDEN: You're aware last week or this weekend about some fatal shootings in Papua and some analysts were speculating that that was a message to the President not to speed up his reform agenda.
DJALAL: I don't have any comment because we still don't know what is behind the shootings in Papua so I don't want to jump the gun so it's better for me to not comment on it but to respond to your question, the President is determined to promote and pursue reforms that he has advanced in the last five years and even before that and I don't think anyone or anything can deter him from what he calls the great transformation of Indonesia into a democratic state that is economically prosperous and stable so the President will press on with his domestic reforms there's no doubt about it and this is why the people are trusting him with the mandate and why he's done so well in the elections because people believe in his will and his sincerety to advance his reform agenda.
