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he government played down the impact of Sunday’s suicide bombing in Surakarta, Central Java, on foreign direct investment in Indonesia, saying that investors’ interests would be protected.

“Investors should not second guess our security. The authorities are there to ensure security. I have also seen a good decoupling, or disengagement, between one activity and another, that is, political-security and economic activities,” Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa told reporters at his office on Monday.

“So people can differentiate which one is systemic and which one is local. I hope this does not disrupt our business climate.”

The comment came a day after a suicide bomber detonated explosives inside Sepenuh Injil Bethel Church (GBIS) in Surakarta, Central Java, on Sunday, killing himself and injuring 22 others. It was not the first bomb attack in the country this year that received nationwide attention.

In March and June, several bomb packages were sent to a number of offices in Jakarta and a minimarket in South Sumatra, respectively injuring three police officers and the minimarket owner. In April, a suicide bomber exploded a bomb inside a mosque in a Cirebon Police compound in West Java, killing himself and injuring 30 others, including 24 police officers.

Each of the attacks was reminiscent of the massive 2002 Bali bombings and the 2009 JW Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta, which injured and took the lives of hundreds of foreign nationals and locals.

“Psychologically, investors have gotten used to [bomb attacks]. This has been priced in as a risk for investment,” Peter Gontha, the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) vice chairman for investment, told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview. “[Bomb attacks] occur frequently in Indonesia, so no investors have asked me about it yet.”

Foreign investors are interested in Indonesia for its large gross domestic product that would give them a huge market in a country where economic fundamentals remain strong, Peter said.

Apart from the many terror and bomb attacks, Indonesia’s economy, the biggest in Southeast Asia, has been growing rapidly at over 6 percent in the past two years, with investment contributing to the rise in the overall domestic consumption-driven economy.

“Investment needs safety. Bomb attacks create a negative perception of the country’s security. The security authorities need to work hard to tackle the issue; never underestimate. Security in big cities has become crucial. This is a risk for local community and business players,” Erwin Aksa, chairman of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (HIPMI), told the Post.

Erwin and Peter agreed that perception has been good enough for both foreign investors and local businesses to invest or do business here, but significant improvements in security — mainly through improving the lack of security protocol discipline — would further boost investors’ and businesses’ confidence.

Indonesia is in need of thousands of trillions of rupiah of investment through 2025 as part of the Yudhoyono administration’s ambitious economic master plan that would make Indonesia one of the world’s top 10 economies in the next 14 years.

The Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) is expecting Rp 240 trillion in new realized investment this year and Rp 280 trillion next year, excluding the non oil-and-gas and financial sectors, with a growth rate of more than 15 percent.

To lure investors, the government has introduced a tax holiday regulation that gives five- to 10-year tax breaks to investors with investments of more than Rp 1 trillion in the fields of base metals, oil refining, petrochemicals, renewable energy, machinery and telecommunication equipment.

“As far as domestic problems are concerned, investors do not comment much. They are more concerned with global economic uncertainties that could affect their investments in Indonesia,” Peter said.