All the bombers in the world will never make so many children so happy. These young hearts and minds all knew, as the band beat out their favorite bouncy tunes, that with Bob the Builder, "We can fix it," and that at the end of every Barney show, on TV or live, we sing a song about love...

"I love you, you love me,

We're a happy family.

With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you,

Won't you say you love me too?"

I asked Tommy Pratama, a self-made entertainment impresario who runs Original Productions, if he was not a little crazy to put on a mass entertainment show for children in Jakarta, based on global but Western-inspired children's icons like Barney and Bob the Builder, just a month after the hotel bombs.

Tommy was firm as a rock and with an eye on the future. "The customers decided what to do," he said. "By the first day, we'd sold 75 percent of the 75,000 seats, and 80 percent by Sunday, before we even started."

He was sure that with eight shows spread over three days, he would be successful as the promoter organizer, having taken much of the risk and gaining a proportionate reward.

In his business model, the people putting on the show run the risks on fixed costs and can do well in relation to good performances. But he, as the organizer, takes on higher variable promotional costs, including higher security costs this time. If he judges his market right, then he gains proportionally from his higher risk.

So he gambled that a show involving performers from Australia, Thailand and the Philippines, requiring a team of 100, would not be pushed aside as Manchester United had been.

Tommy stuck to his guns so 75,000 happy children, or rather just over half of them happy children, and the rest happy parents and grandparents, could tell the bombers that ordinary people want a happy time and not hatred, and that we can't live our lives terrified of terrorists.

He not only defied the terrorists, he also had an eye on the future of mass entertainment in Indonesia and on the promotion and export of Indonesian shows, including traditional culture.

He says that the new government of re-elected President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should take the promotion of entertainment seriously, as in Singapore and Malaysia, and use entertainment and happiness to build Indonesia, for which Yudhoyono would go down in history for the children of Indonesia as the president who brought them noodles and happiness. Yudhoyono's campaign song was based on the well-known Indomie instant noodle marketing ditty, and all the children know it.

So Tommy wants to lobby the President and suggests a more aggressive policy to strengthen the Indonesian entertainment industry and make better use of it to promote Indonesia and confidence in its future, at home and abroad.

President Yudhoyono should not be diverted by terrorist attempts to scare him and the Indonesian people, seeking to undermine Indonesian success and confidence. He should be like Bob the Builder and tell everyone "We can fix it," and that we should love each other and not hate anybody, like Barney says.

Children already know these things, but we have to tell all the grownups. And we must not let bad grownups teach children bad things, but teach them all to be good.

In Jakarta this August, Barney and Bob the Builder showed everybody that they know how to beat the terrorists. Love and build, instead of hate and destroy.

- Terry Lacey

We invite readers to contribute to this section about things happening in Greater Jakarta. Personal experiences, rants and protests are also welcome. Please send your story to city@thejakartapost.com. The article should be between 600 and 800 words.

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