appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

Karim Raslan

Multiple suicide bombings in and around East Java’s port capital of Surabaya over two days in mid-May left 25 dead and more than 40 injured.
For Indonesians, the gruesome, disturbing details of the attacks were just as upsetting as the casualties.
The fact that the main attacks – the bombings of two churches – were carried out by an ordinary middle-class family with four children strapped with explosives left many shocked.
As the country absorbed what had happened, the Ceritalah Team hit the ground to get a sense of how people in this bustling industrial hub were coping with the trauma.
Surabaya suicide bombs: ‘Caring brother’ who led family to death in attack on churches
“No, I’ve never thought of becoming a suicide bomber,” Pak Hidayat gently states.
Born in East Java’s Lamongan regency, the 43-year-old husband and father of four lives in Surabaya’s northern Krembangan district.

“I was near the police station when the attack happened. I could hear the bomb … They’re not human,” Pak Hidayat says of the attackers.
However, he was unsettled when he found out that one of the bombers, Dita Oepriarto, was also a father.
“I was surprised he was a terrorist. He had four children … like me.”
Dita is alleged to have been tied to the Jamaah Ansharud Daulah (JAD), an Indonesian extremist group linked to IS.
Do Surabaya attacks signal a ‘barbaric’ turn, using families as suicide bombers?
“My oldest daughter is Safina, she’s 12 years old,” Pak Hidayat says.
Dita’s daughter, Fadhila Sari, was also 12. The latter died when her mother bombed Surabaya’s Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church.
Pak Hidayat runs a digital printing business from home, and his life is very much built around Islamic values.
Pak Hidayat attended Lamongan’s Pesantren Ihanul, a religious boarding school until he was 12. He learned to read the Koran and studied hukum, Islamic law. He went on to study civics and the Pancasila – Indonesia’s national ideology – at the State University of Surabaya.

In 1997, he joined the anti-Suharto activist group Students’ Solidarity for Democracy in Indonesia.
“I was arrested and imprisoned in 1998 for speaking up. In jail, I was tortured. It brought me closer to God.”
After his release a year later, he opened his printing business. “I decided to pursue my hobby in digital design and take it easy.”
But in 2010, Pak Hidayat’s life took a religious turn when he decided to travel to Pakistan with 10 other friends.
Support for Islamic State? In Indonesia, there’s an app for that
“I went there to understand Islam on a deeper level. I lived in Islamabad for a month and a half. I talked with Indonesian scholars residing there, mainly about theology.”
Like Indonesia, Pakistan is no stranger to tragedy. In 2010 alone, the South Asian country witnessed no less than seven terror attacks, killing more than 500 people.
Pak Hidayat said he encountered radical figures and teachings in Pakistan, “but I wasn’t attracted to them”.

Now comfortably settled on a quiet life, he passes his knowledge of Islam down to his own children.
“My family and I sit together after subuh prayers. I teach them how to read the Koran, to pray – not what the terrorists indoctrinated in their children.”
This is in stark contrast to Dita’s apparent radical brainwashing of his own children, to turn them into instruments and ultimately, victims of terror.
Yet, when he reflects on his near encounter with death, Pak Hidayat gives a seemingly contradictory answer: “I’m not afraid of death. My life is not important.”
While many in the city were stunned by the tragedy, Surabaya’s inherent resilience soon reasserted itself. Soon after malls and wet markets filled up with patrons in the run-up to Lebaran.
However, the suddenness of the attacks, just as Indonesia gears up for local and presidential elections over the next few months, means that the republic is entering a new, and challenging phase.


Europe running low on jet fuel, stoking fears of flight cancellations

Chinese drone exposes Indonesia’s ‘insufficient’ undersea capabilities

Indonesia’s Bali wants illegal rentals to be legitimate as operators flag red tape

Japan remains most trusted power in Southeast Asia despite military build-up: survey

Indonesia

Surabaya suicide bomber ‘had children … like me’

Pak Hidayat, husband and father of four, at his house in Surabaya’s northern district of Krembangan. Photo: Fully Syafi

Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church. Photo: Fully Syafi

While Surabaya is quickly healing from its wounds, police remain on high alert at their headquarters, a sight of a suicide bombing by Tri Murtiono, his wife and three children.

An armed police officer checks a visitor’s messenger bag at the entrance to Surabaya’s police headquarters.

The six victims of the Santa Maria Catholic Church attack conducted on motorcycles by Dita Oepriarto’s two sons, aged 18 and 16.

This Week in Asia

Opinion

News

Asia

Indonesians have sadly become accustomed to deadly bombings, but the fact that a family carried out a recent attack creates a new level of shock


Indonesians have sadly become accustomed to deadly bombings, but the fact that a family carried out a recent attack creates a new level of shock.


Terrorism

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

Asian Angle

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Indonesians have sadly become accustomed to deadly bombings, but the fact that a family carried out a recent attack creates a new level of shock

.css-jfmysa{display:inline;word-break:break-word;}.css-1ankfgb{cursor:pointer;display:inline;word-break:break-word;}Surabaya suicide bombs: ‘Caring brother’ who led family to death in attack on churches

Indonesians have sadly become accustomed to deadly bombings, but the fact that a family carried out a recent attack creates a new level of shock

Surabaya suicide bombs: ‘Caring brother’ who led family to death in attack on churches