Many Indonesian's were saddened and even downright disgusted to learn that two suspected terrorist killed in recent police raids received a hero's funeral in Sragen, Central Java, attended by hundreds of people and led by firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir.
A convoy of 200 vehicles escorted the two bodies from their hometown in Solo to a "Special Cemetery for Those who Perform Prayers" in nearby Sragen.
During the funeral ceremony, Ba'asyir praised Air Setyawan and Eko Joko Sarjono, killed during a police anti-terror operation in Bekasi, West Java, as martyrs, because they fought for the implementation of Islamic sharia law.
Not only that, one local TV station showed a banner welcoming the two, "Jihad is not over yet," it read.
That the two suspected terrorists were given such a hero's treatment surely rubs many of us the wrong way.
Following the bombing in JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, the public seems to want to give the police a blank check to do whatever they like to stop another attack.
The police deployed hundreds of officers to a sleepy village in Temanggung, Central Java, earlier this month, to apprehend the man they thought was Noordin M. Top, their most wanted suspect. Instead they killed Ibrohim, whom the police say brought the materials to make the bombs into the JW Marriott Hotel. Whether Ibrohim actually did this or not, and if this was the right way to stop him, has not been questioned.
On the same day the police conducted the 17-hour siege in Temanggung, they raided a house in Jati Asih, Bekasi, where they killed two other suspected terrorists: Air and Eko. But so far no one has bothered to question whether Air and Eko were indeed terrorists, much less prove it.
We all seem to welcome the police's "success" in killing Ibrohim, Air and Eko.
Now the police, and surprisingly the Indonesian Military too, are asking for more power to fight terrorism, because, they argue, they need a stronger legal framework and the increased involvement of the military to get the job done.
The existing anti-terrorism law allows the police to detain terror suspects for seven days without an arrest warrant, but the police want the power to detain people who are involved in any way with terrorist groups.
The police are apparently frustrated that they cannot detain someone endorsing or even promulgating terrorism, like Abu Bakar Ba'asyir.
Therefore, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Nana Soekarna said recently that Indonesia needs a stronger law, a law similar to the Internal Security Act (ISA) adopted by Singapore and Malaysia, which he said had proven effective in rooting out terrorism.
But those who lived during the Soeharto era know that this is a dangerous proposition. Back then the Anti-Subversion Law was routinely abused by the Soeharto administration to silence any dissent.
Involving the military in the business of public order is not an option either. We still remember during Soeharto's time when a military officer at a sub-district level could arrest anyone they liked without an arrest warrant. We never want something like that to happen again.
At the same time, we, as direct and indirect victims of terrorism, share Nanan's frustration regarding Ba'asyir who went on record saying that bombings will continue as long as Indonesia is not governed by sharia.
I personally used to believe that only a very small minority shared Ba'asyir's idea of jihad. But the hundreds-strong procession that escorted Air and Eko from Solo to Sragen shows that more people that I thought support these extremist views. There might be thousands, or even millions of silent supporters.
But, the police cannot just detain Ba'asyir or people who share his idea of jihad because they think they should. We cannot arrest people because of their beliefs. The detention or execution of a few people who have twisted ideas of jihad would not stop the spread of their beliefs; on the contrary, it could help them gain support.
Stopping terrorism will be a long, drawn-out battle, and it's not the job of the police alone. It's the duty of the government and the broader Muslim community - including mass organizations like the Nahdlatul Ulama, the Muhammadiyah and the Indonesian Ulema Council as well as Islamic political parties - to prevent these extremists from spreading their beliefs.
The police's duty is to protect the people from the violent acts that sometimes come from these people. Therefore, what the police need to do is improve their capacity and capability to prevent such attacks.
Rather than giving more power to the police and the military, we better give more money to the police's anti-terror squad and to the state intelligence units so that they are better able to track down terrorists and prevent further attacks.
Power tends to corrupt, but legal and accountable money would give more power to the police to defeat terrorism.
We should encourage the police to work as hard as they can, but not give them a blank mandate to do whatever they want.
