HONG KONG -- The Bali bombing atrocity demonstrated, in a profoundly tragic fashion, how a politically weak, poorly organized, yet struggling democracy like Indonesia is intensely vulnerable to the forces of extremism and terrorism.
But foreign, particularly Western, sympathy for that democratic struggle quickly evaporates when around 200 tourists are killed by a terrorist bomb. Suddenly, many implicitly wish that Indonesia was authoritarian all over again. Thinking Indonesians do not share this aspiration.
So democratic Indonesia is energizing itself as a result of the Bali crisis. On Oct. 19, after lengthy Cabinet and parliamentary consultations, President Megawati Sukarnoputri signed two decrees giving the government emergency powers with which to combat the crisis. But it is likely that Megawati will use these powers sparingly, lest they further reawaken memories of the long authoritarian era under former President Suharto.
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