[Kabar-indonesia] Pain lingers on 3 years after Marriott attack

[Joyo at aol.com]

The Jakarta Post 
Sunday, August 6, 2006

Pain lingers on 3 years after Marriott attack

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Three years after her husband was killed in the terror attack on South 
Jakarta's J.W. Marriott Hotel, Sri Lestari still vividly remembers that fateful day.

But things, she says, are getting better.

"It's never been easy for me to live without my husband. But life must goes 
on, I must focus on raising my son," she said.

Sri and her school-age son are among the hundreds of families affected by the 
Aug. 5 bombing of the hotel, which killed 12 people and injured 147 others.

Sri recalls that her husband, Edisucipto, a Marriott employee, left their 
Depok home for work as usual on Aug. 5.

He never returned.

She said she had no premonitions about what would happen that day, with the 
discovery Edisucipto was dead coming like a bolt from the blue.

Coping with his death, she said, meant shifting her focus to her son, Garry, 
who is now 10.

She built three small rental houses using the Rp 24 million (about US$2,637) 
in bereavement money she received from the hotel.

"I can earn Rp 600,000 a month now, and that's enough for me and my son," Sri 
told The Jakarta Post. She said she planned to open a small shop if her 
savings allowed it.

However, despite her modest circumstances she is more fortunate than many 
others.

Twenty-five-year-old Mimin whose taxi driver husband, Eyoh Zakaria, also died 
in the blast had to leave the city and shift into her parents' house in 
Kuningan, West Java.

She now relies on her parents to support her and her child after spending a 
payout from the taxi company.

"I don't know what will happen in the future. I only believe that God will 
always provide for me," Mimin said.

To protect the welfare of people affected by the attack, she and other 
Marriott bomb families established the Lima Delapan Foundation in February 2004.

But interest in their plight seems to have dried up.

"We are aware that not many people are concerned about us any more. That's 
why we established this foundation. We want to be financially independent," its 
chairman, Wahyu Adiartono, told the Post during an event marking the third 
anniversary of the bombing.

A book detailing the stories of victims and their families, Tragedy Bom 
Marriott (Marriott Bomb Tragedy) and written by political researcher Hermawan 
Sulistyo, was also launched during the commemoration.

With some of the book's profits donated to the foundation, the survivors hope 
the book will raise awareness about their situation and provide them with a 
much-needed income.

"Some of us still need routine medical checkups or follow-up treatments, 
which require a lot of money," Wahyu, a man injured in the blast, said.

Every three months, Wahyu needs to change the synthetic skin on his badly 
burned hands at a cost of Rp 50 million.

While the agony of the burns has faded, Wahyu says he is still pained with 
the government's disregard of the survivors.

The state had promised to pay families Rp 10 million for every member who 
died in the attack, Rp 5 million to each person badly injured and Rp 2.5 million 
to people with minor injuries, "but they never did", he said.

"I ended up getting tired of dealing with them (the government). It was just 
going to be a waste of my energy, while in the end I got nothing," he said.

Wahyu said the foundation was now focusing on its usefulness as a support 
group.

"I have found new strength here," 32-year-old widow Nagiah Aprillia, who now 
rears three children on her own after her husband died in the blast.

Hildawati, 13, whose father died in the blast, said time had healed much of 
the hurt she felt after his passing. Wet weather, she said, brought the 
memories back.

"My dad used to accompany me everywhere and he always picked me up at school 
when it rained. I have learned how to be brave now and my mother is very proud 
of me," said the girl who wants to become a doctor.

Former security guard trainee Bambang Triyanto, who suffered burns to 40 
percent of his body in the attack, said he was now living a "normal" life after 
three years of struggling with denial and anger.

Bambang is now permanent employee of the hotel.

"Having a lot of support makes me an optimist about the future. After all, we 
must move forward," he said.

For Bambang, reminders of the attack come on hot days, with his 
still-sensitive skin itching uncontrollably when it is exposed to the sun's rays.

But he too finds positives from his experience.

"Before the tragedy, I was never particularly close with God, but now it's 
different," he said.

"I just want to make my parents happy and find a wife who is willing to 
scratch my itchy injuries." 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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