Jakarta Tidak Takut, Tapi…..

Jakarta Tidak Takut  – ‘Jakarta’s Not Afraid!’ is a good slogan, and I endorse the sentiment wholeheartedly.

The best response to terrorist scum, like today’s jihadist vermin who murdered harmless people to further their satanic cause, is to carry on as usual, doing whatever one normally does, whilst hoping, of course, that the sectarian scum will be caught and put to death.

After all, subverting a way of life is what terrorists want, and jihadist terrorists, especially, want to deny us every trace of the pleasures we derive from life.

Enjoy A Night Out? How Dare You, Say IslamoNazis! 

They will succeed if we all take to staying in, cowering from their menace.

Much like in London, during the IRA/Sinn Fein terror camaign, we could have stayed home but instead took pride in getting to work, despite our stations being repeatedly closed by bomb-threats (which sometimes were more than mere threats!) 

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So despite my anger and distress when I heard the news this morning, I was looking forward to the party scheduled for tonight. Sharing rage and grief is healthier than nursing those emotions indoors.

To my dismay, I got an email saying that ‘due to the current situation,’ the party was off.

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• What a gutless crowd!

The event was to be held in one of Jakarta’s largest hotels, which always has tight security – when I’ve gone there before, I’ve been vexed at the amount of  time it takes to get in!

After the Sarinah outrage, it would undoubtedly have been like a fortress. And though harder to get into, the hotel would have been easier to reach, traffic thinner after the Islamist atrocity.

This party was not hosted by Indonesians, but by foreigners, so shame on them!

I hope they grow up and show some greater sense of solidarity with our host nation in future: though I doubt if I’ll be joining them again.

Whatever!

I made up my mind that, what the hell, I’d go into town anyway. My decision didn’t require any summoning up of courage, simply an unwillingness to be intimidated. Something the supine twits behind the party’s cancellation evidently lacked.

There’s been a drinks voucher I won in a Lucky Draw last month, valid for beer at a bar in Senayan, so I smsed around and headed out, hoping others I know would join my outing.

Traffic was notably lighter then usual and my bus – with only a handful of passengers – got me there in barely half an hour.

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 Slipi Junction

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I noticed a lot of cops plus two ambulances at Slipi – later heard there’d been threats made against that area.. 

Taking short-cuts through Ratu Plaza and Plaza Senayan ( both popular expat shopping centres; I saw few bules – that’s local for expats – in either place) soon enough I reached the bar.

When I got there, it was empty, save for the staff, though they were fun to chat to. 

My voucher used up, five or six beers later, I came home, puzzling over this question – what sort of friends are we foreigners to Indonesia if we run for cover after the threat has been handled?