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Monday, August 16, 2010
10:49 Mecca time, 07:49 GMT
The Bomber
By Lynn Lee
On July 17, 2009, an 18-year-old boy walked into the lobby of the JW Marriot
hotel in the Indonesian capital Jakarta and blew himself up. Five other people
died in the attack and many more were injured.
The Indonesian police quickly identified the bomber as Dani Dwi Permana - a
teenager with no prior criminal record or history of violence.
So what could have driven him to commit such an act? It was a question that
plagued Dani's older brother, Jaka Karyana, and a year on from that day he set
out to discover the answer.
Filmmakers Lynn Lee and James Leong travelled with Jaka on his emotional search
to discover what turned his brother into a suicide bomber.
We first watched the news on TV about a year ago - a suicide bombing at
Jakarta's JW Marriott Hotel and another one just down the road at the Ritz
Carlton. There was shattered glass and debris everywhere, throngs of reporters
and camera crews. We saw body bags being carried out of the hotels. But what
really jolted us was CCTV footage released by the police of a gangly young man,
calmly wheeling his luggage through the lobby of the Marriott ... and then, the
explosion. This was Dani Dwi Permana. He was just 18 years old when he died.
Why would a teenager commit such an act? In March this year, the subject
surfaced during a conversation with a magazine editor friend. One of her
freelancers had recently met Dani's family. I asked if they might be interested
in sharing their story in a TV documentary. The request was followed by phone
calls and emails. We were a little surprised when they agreed.
Right from the start, we knew we wanted to build our film around Dani's older
brother, Jaka. He had dropped out of university to support his younger sibling
after their parents split up. He had been the last person in the family to see
Dani before the bombing. It was Jaka who arranged his brother's funeral and who
continues to wonder if he could have stopped Dani from becoming a mass murderer.
An ordinary life
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Before we left for Jakarta, we did not know how much Jaka was prepared to
share. But he surprised us with his candor. It was as if he wanted to show us a
side of Dani we never knew existed. We spent hours listening to tales of their
childhood together, the games they played, the mischief they got up to, the
fact that Dani loved basketball. Jaka wanted us to know there was more to his
brother than that one terrible tragedy. The bomber was also a regular kid.
And this was perhaps what struck us most about their story - the ordinariness
of the lives they led before their parents split up. A security guard father. A
stay-at-home mother. A house in a quiet neighbourhood in a nicer part of town.
Prayers at night.
Jaka's mother took pains to tell us that her sons were good boys.
"Lots of kids do drugs," she said. "Jaka and Dani never did."
So what happened?
Four months before the bombing, the boys' father, Zulkifli, was found guilty of
theft and put in prison. They lost their home. Their mother, Kartini, fell
apart emotionally. Unable to cope, she decided to return to her hometown in
Kalimantan. Kartini took her two youngest sons with her. Jaka and Dani were
left to fend for themselves.
Four months. That was all it took to turn Dani. Four months on his own, with no
adult for emotional support other than the religious cleric who convinced him
to make the ultimate sacrifice. Jaka continues to blame himself for not being
there for his brother.
Tainted community
Six people, including Dani, were killed in the attack and many more were
injured [GETTY]
If Jaka and his family were open and willing to share, the people within their
community were the complete opposite.
We asked several times for permission to film inside Dani's mosque, but were
turned down. Dani's old friends initially agreed to meet us, and then postponed
twice, before canceling at the last minute.
We spent a frustrating day at Dani's old school, trying to convince his former
headmistress to talk. We wanted to give her a chance to explain why it was
tough to spot a would-be bomber among her students. Instead, she summoned Jaka
to her office and spent hours interrogating him about the film, before
declining to meet the crew.
It was as if the community felt tainted by its association with Dani. His
crime, while not theirs, was something they did not wish to revisit, or even
rationalise.
During the shoot, we were able to arrange for Jaka to meet Nasir Abbas, a
former member of the al-Qaeda-linked group, Jemaah Islamiyah. Abbas is now a
vocal critic of violent jihad. More importantly, he knew Noordin Top, the man
who masterminded Dani's suicide attack.
We had asked to see Abbas for some background research, but Jaka was eager to
find out more, and Abbas graciously agreed to a meeting. They spoke for more
than two hours. Central to the discussion was the question of whether Dani was
brainwashed, whether had had a choice.
'Never let go'
Towards the end, we broached what we thought would be a difficult subject -
religion. But even then, Jaka was surprisingly forthcoming. He admitted to
being angry with God initially, but said he had come to terms with his faith.
He was unequivocal in his assertion that Islam is a good religion, a religion
that teaches people not to do bad things.
Kartini too, told us that one of the first things she did after learning about
Dani's death was to pray.
Why did Dani do what he did? The answers are far more complex than we initially
believed. Could someone have done something to stop him? We will never know.
What is clear though is that Jaka is determined to never let the same thing
happen to his family again. Our final few minutes of footage is of the boys and
their mother having fun at a public pool. Jaka is holding on to his youngest
sibling who cannot swim, promising he will never ever let go.
