D

span class="inline inline-left">Defiant: Muslim scholar Dawam Rahardjo (right) speaks at press conference on Wednesday at the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence’s (Kontras) headquarters in Central Jakarta. Dawam, Setara Institute founder Hendardi (left), Kontras offi cial Usman Hamid (second left) and the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute chair Erna Ratnaningsih condemned the terrorists who sent a letter bomb to liberal Muslim activist Ulil Abshar Abdalla.JP/Ricky YudhistiraThe police have yet to discover any clues that could shed light on the perpetrators behind the coordinated delivery of three bombs disguised as books in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Sutarman said Wednesday that officers were still investigating the type of explosive used and the assembling technique to determine how their investigation will proceed.

The bombs were sent to the office of moderate Islamic scholar and activist Ulil Abshar Abdalla, the office of National Narcotics Agency (BNN) chief Comr. Gen. Gories Mere and the private residence of lawyer and Pancasila Youth chairman Yapto Soelistyo Soerjosomarno.

“We still cannot identify any suspects. It’s just way too early to conclude anything,” Sutarman said.

“It seems the suspects knew the targets well and have a penchant for books. They were well-coordinated and prepared attacks,” he said.

According to the police, based on the materials used in the packages, the culprits aimed to ignite fear and cause injuries. They are not intended to kill their targets.

Unlike the bombs used by terrorists groups under Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), which was behind several bloody bombings in Jakarta and Bali between 2002 and 2009, the Jakarta packages contained no nails or bolts like what is usually used to boost a bomb’s explosion and cause maximum damage.

A preliminary police examination revealed that the bombs contained the explosive substance ammonium chlorate.

Sutarman also said the senders’ names and addresses on the packages were obviously fake.

Packaged bombs are relatively new to Indonesia, with Tuesday’s incidents possibly marking their first appearance in the country.

Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Baharudin Djafar said the courier who delivered the bomb to Ulil’s office in Utan Kayu, East Jakarta, was different than the person who delivered the package of explosives to Yapto’s home on Jl. Benda in South Jakarta.

“The courier who brought the explosives to Yapto’s home was a bit taller than the one in Utan Kayu,” Baharudin said, adding that the police had yet to obtain solid information about the bomb that was sent to the BNN office.

“Nobody saw who delivered that bomb,” he said.

Baharudin said that the police had questioned at least 11 witnesses at the three crime scenes.

A police source said the bombing attempts had been close calls, as all the receivers could have potentially opened the packages.

The BNN bomb was received by Gories’ secretary, who became suspicious about the item, while the bomb aimed at Yapto made it all the way to his living room.

The package sent to Utan Kayu was already in the hands of Ulil’s secretary, Saidiman, who would have given it to Ulil when he arrived at the office.

While no groups have claimed any responsibility for the incidents yet, suspicion is rife that the masterminds could either be former JI members or mujahideen alumni from the Afghanistan war with Russia in the 1980s.

“The perpetrators wanted to send a warning that they are still alive and are pursuing their targets, even though their leader Abu Bakar Ba’asyir is being detained for trial,” University of Indonesia terrorism analyst Mardigu Wowiek Prasantyo said.

“They seemed to succeed in the sense that the incidents have attracted massive public attention.”

According to Mardigu, traditional terrorist groups usually attacked because they no longer had sufficient logistical abilities to prepare larger and deadlier attacks.

“They’ve been cut from their logistics supply and it is getting more difficult to obtain explosives,” he said.

But, analysts have not rejected the possibility that the incident was politically motivated.

House of Representatives’ Commission I for intelligence, foreign affairs and defense legislator TB Hasanuddin said he was suspicious that there were new players unsatisfied with the leadership of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono coming from elements within law enforcement agencies, the military and intelligence services.

“The modus operandi is just different from those taken by the usual suspects,” he said.

He said the making of a package explosive stuffed in a book was a basic lesson taught in explosives class in the military and the police force.

“Making a book bomb is a basic lesson that the military and the police should master. It’s very basic stuff,” said Hasanuddin, who served in military intelligence for 12 years.

National Antiterrorism Agency (BNPT) chief Ins. Gen. (ret) Ansyaad Mbai said there was a possibility the perpetrators were a new group or a mutation of a traditional group.

“There’s a different kind of style in their attacks. This is something that we are still investigating,” he said.

“But, questions should be asked about whether terrorist groups indeed no longer have access to logistics and if this was engineered by a new player outside of that group,” Ansyaad said.

The triple bomb attempt on Tuesday occurred amid recent intolerant incidents in the country, including an attack on Ahmadis in Cikeusik, Banten, that ended with three dead, and rioting in Temanggung that destroyed four churches. Critics have said pluralism in the country is in jeopordy.

The police have so far been unable to uncover the mastermind behind the Cikeusik or the Temanggung violence.