T

he old adage '€œJakarta itu keras, bung!'€ (Jakarta is tough, bro!) is often used to describe the harsh competitive nature of life in the capital of Indonesia, the largest economy in Southeast Asia.

Jakartans, particularly those in the middle class, compete for almost everything, ranging from promotions in their respective corporate jobs, the latest information, opportunities and of course, attention.

This craving for attention among Jakartans is particularly evident during times of tragedy.

Whether these be natural disasters, a massive airplane accident or an act of terror, the middle class of Jakarta always manage to find a way to express their sympathy and concern while apparently using remarks as a mask to hide their actual intent of attention seeking in a world that they think revolves around their very existence.

When terrorists struck at the high profile Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta with bombs and guns on Thursday, the first major attack on the capital since 2009, it did not take long for middle class Jakartans, who are, by and large, very social media savvy, to start using their accounts for the sake of such attention seeking.

Only a tiny fraction of the updates in the country'€™s social media universe on that day discussed what was actually happening with useful insights, such as information regarding the situation at the scene. On the other hand, a large fraction of updates were filled with Jakartans attempting to ride on the back of such tragedy to leverage significance in the virtual world.

Based on my observation of how such attention seeking Jakartans behave during times of tragedy, I have divided them into three groups.

The first group, I call the '€œI am the most resourceful and well informed person'€ group. You know this kind of person. This group consists of people who love to spread unconfirmed information, as fast as they can, on their social media channel just to show their friends, family and colleagues how resourceful and well-informed they are. They oft come up with many conspiracy theories, made by their own delusions, but share them as if they are real.

Not long after the attack on Jl. MH Thamrin, broadcast messages and social media updates about additional explosions at other locations started to spread. Eventually, it came to light that all the messages had been based on hoax but nevertheless, they were enough to cause additional panic and add extra burden on the anti-terrorist squad, who were required to clarify the actual security level in Jakarta.

The people responsible for recklessly spreading these hoax reports were middle class Jakartans, who, in some of their broadcasts, dared to falsely claim that the information was valid as it had been provided by the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Sutiyoso.

They could not care less about the consequence of their hoax-filled broadcasts. All the people in this group care about is that they are seen as an authoritative source of information by their peers.

The second group is the '€œI almost became a victim because I was at the scene before all hell broke loose'€ group. These are the people who constantly try to tell everyone about how they recently spent some time at the location of the terror scene, taking attention away from the victims and showcasing their own narcissistic agenda.

Remember the attack in Paris? When that happened, middle class Jakartans spent a lot of time competing to share their best photos, taken during brief vacations to the city of light, adding the hashtag #PrayForParis. Afterwards, they spent a lot of time talking about the great times they had recently had at the scene of one of the attacks, as if their prior rendezvous in that place made some kind of difference.

The third group, the worst of them all, is the '€œholier than thou social media moral police group'€. This group is full of angry people who go gangster mode and mob on others who cope with the tragedy in a way that these people deem to be indecent and insensitive.

They simply cannot accept the fact that different people cope with tragedy in different ways. As a general rule, it is acknowledged that, in the face of tragedy, some people will express their sympathy through condolences, some will use the tragedy as a way to reflect on their own lives and some will try to use humor as an escape, to comprehend the atrocity and the sadness that has taken place right before their eyes.

However, for people in this third group, the public are only allowed to cope with tragedy within of the bounds of a strict moral standard.

These are the kind of people who stalk the social media universe diligently, searching for posts about the tragedy that they deem to be indecent, insensitive and unethical. Once they find such a post, they reign down their wrath on the offender with an endless stream of cyber bullying. They have this need to show the whole world that they are the vanguard of high standard morality and ethics.

Whether you, or someone you know, can be listed in any of these three groups, I cannot say. What I can say is that all people in the aforementioned groups share one thing in common; whenever tragedy strikes, ultimately, all they want to do is to scream at everyone and say '€œdon'€™t forget to remember me'€.

'€“ Hans David Tampubolon