Book bombs signal rising religious tensions

Indonesia is no stranger to terrorist bombings. The country has been hit by five major attacks since 2002, the latest of which occurred in the capital, Jakarta, in July 2009, when suicide bombers killed nine people and injured more than 50 others at two five-star hotels. It is therefore tempting to dismiss as relatively trivial what has all the hallmarks of being the terrorists' latest campaign: four small parcel bombs delivered to separate addresses in Jakarta on March 15th.

The damaged caused by the explosive-packed parcels was minor compared with past attacks. Only one of the bombs exploded, no one was killed and only one person was injured seriously (a policeman had a hand blown off as he attempted to defuse one of the devices). But there are fears that the bombs could signal a violent escalation of the debate on religious freedom that has gripped the world's most populous Muslim-majority country since early February, when a religious mob beat to death three members of the Ahmadiyah, a controversial Islamic sect.

Although no one has claimed responsibility for posting the parcels, there is circumstantial evidence that points to the involvement of religious extremists. After examining the design of one of the devices, police detectives named a bomb-maker, Upik Lawang, as their prime suspect. He led a militant group involved in the religious strife that erupted on Sulawesi in the mid-2000s.

The targeting of the parcel bombs also points to an extremist agenda. The one parcel that did explode was sent to a moderate Muslim scholar, Ulil Abshar Abdalla, a founder of the Liberal Islam Network, which advocates religious freedom. Bomb-disposal experts defused a similar parcel addressed to General Gorries Mere, a Christian and former leader of Densus 88, the police's anti-terrorism unit, along with devices sent to a musician of Jewish descent, Ahmad Dhani, and to the leader of Pemuda Pancasila (a youth movement), Yapto Soerjosoemarno. All but one of the parcels contained hardline Islamic or anti-Semitic books. The other parcel, sent to Mr Soerjosoemarno, contained a book entitled Is Pancasila Dead? Pancasila refers to Indonesia's five founding principles, which some Muslims have criticised for being too secular.

That the terrorists appear to have been reduced to posting parcel bombs could be interpreted as a sign of the success of the counter-terrorism campaign. Indonesia has arrested or killed hundreds of suspected militants since the deaths of 202 people in two suicide bombings on Bali in October 2002. However, the authorities have been much slower to act in condemning the pedlars of religious hatred who are responsible for inciting such violence, such as the attack on Ahmadi Muslims, along with church-burnings and other hate crimes. The president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has failed to defend Indonesia's long-established traditions of tolerance in the face of legislation-sponsored by his own coalition partners-that has been so vaguely worded as to permit religious vigilantes to persecute minorities. At times, the police have appeared to protect the perpetrators of religious violence, not its victims.

If the parcel bombs were intended to stoke religious tensions and silence those who speak out against extremists, they have certainly succeeded in creating a climate of fear. The police are said to be "exhausted" by calls to inspect more suspicious devices, all of which have turned out to be harmless. Encouragingly, several prominent Muslim leaders have since spoken out in defence of religious freedom. Indonesia's moderate Muslims are still a long way from being gagged by fear of violent reprisals.