Too close for comfort
The carnage right at its doorstep is more traumatic for rich little Singapore than even the revelation of bomb plots within its midst. By Seah Chiang Nee.
Oct 28, 2002

EVEN more than the revelation of terrorist plots here, the Bali bombing, with its scenes of carnage, has blown away Singaporeans' world of complacent tranquillity.

Seen for days over television, the horrendous attack at Singapore's doorstep is the closest thing to terror experienced by its people.

For the youths who have never experienced war and were raised in affluence, this wanton killing in peaceful Bali (death toll of nearly 200), has left a deep impression on their minds.

Until now, the only bloody scene most people have seen in this city-state is a traffic accident.

Arguably, the Bali attack has a bigger impact than the revelation of bomb threats and arrests of 31 militants in Singapore.

When the government announced the al-Qaeda linked plot last December to blow up the US and other embassies and the arrest of 13 operatives, Singaporeans were stunned.

Their fear increased in August when 18 more Jemaah Islamiah members were detained, this time for preparing to set off bombs at Singaporean targets.

But the jitters soon passed. Many youths began to treat the whole thing lightly, viewing it as an overstated threat and an over-reacting government. After all, nothing bad happened.

The shopping malls filled, people carried on betting on Manchester United in the English Premier League and Internet chat-sites throbbed with complaints about rising prices.

Some even laughed at the 31 detainees - who had after all done nothing more than take video films or make crude drawings of target sites - for being a bunch of bungling simpletons.

The villains seem less threatening possibly because they are a motley crew of delivery drivers, a butcher, a used-car salesman and a foot reflexologist.

"Bombers? What bombers? They're just a sorry miserable lot," one yuppie remarked at a function I attended. The better-informed older citizenry, however, feel otherwise.

The sentiment was reflected in some foreign newspapers.

The Age in Australia, for example, said: "Increasingly breathless media reports have fuelled suggestions that the region has narrowly escaped a ferocious onslaught and that the danger is far from over."

"The truth is stranger, and tamer, than such fiction," wrote reporter Mark Baker.

"Stripped of the emotive language of terrorist cells and jihad, of shadowy operatives and clandestine codes, the latest disclosures by the Singaporeans, if anything, reveal how amateurish and naive the alleged conspirators were …"

What happened in Bali has put a much more serious postscript to Singapore's arrests and is raising the level of worries several-fold.

People have begun to ask what would happen if Orchard Road gets hit. Bars and nightclubs frequented by foreigners have reported declining business.

Singapore is affected on two fronts, the first being the economy. The blast is likely to impact tourism and direct foreign investment.

The US, Britain and Australia have classified Singapore (and neighbours in South-East Asia) as "high-risk" countries and called on their citizens to refrain from travelling there.

Airline cancellations to Bali have started. Travel agents say it may take four to five years for Bali to regain its old allure.

But the biggest fear is the uncertainty of foreign investment; with an unstable Indonesia so close by, fewer Westerners may invest here.

Already, Singapore's leaders are starting to write down its policy to become a regional hub until the region becomes stable.

The second impact is among the people who have a lot of sympathy for the Balinese.

Many Singaporeans have been to Bali and enjoyed its gentle beauty. "The Balinese are among my most favourite people," said a friend.

A Bali-based Singaporean couple immediately returned here to launch a donation drive through the Internet and flew back with crucial medical supplies.

Their parents joined in, so did other groups who collected cash and supplies for the stricken Indonesian families.

Three doctors, including plastic surgeon Leslie Kuek and ear, nose and throat specialist Dr Chew Khat Kuet, flew to Bali with a large supply of pain-killers and dressings.

Surgical equipment were later sent over, allowing the doctors to treat 30 Indonesians, including 20 burn victims. Another 20 victims, mostly Indonesians, were flown to Singapore for treatment.

"Australians and other Westerners were flown home for treatment, unlike many locals. There were too many for the understaffed and under-equipped local hospital to cope with," said a Singaporean volunteer, explaining why they were concentrating on Indonesians.

The explosion also provoked calls for tougher action to deter possible terrorism here, including detention of family members.

Since these radicals are not worried about jail or punishment for themselves, so the threat of imprisonment will not help. "But if they know their spouse and children are also punished, they may cease and desist," suggested an online writer.

Another reader says a better way is to confiscate their public flat, already a punishment for dangerous litterbugs who throw things out of their high-rise homes.

Security in strategic places in Singapore was further strengthened, with stricter checks, more cameras installed and the use of dogs to sniff out explosives.

But race and religious harmony remains top priority, especially among the young.

A recent survey on attitudes towards race and religion before Sept 11 last year shows differences between the attitudes of young and older Singaporeans.

Polling 1,400 people, the government survey showed nine out of 10 Singaporeans being optimistic that race relations would continue to improve.

But younger Singaporeans were less satisfied with the current state of relations between racial and religious groups compared to older Singaporeans.

Malays were relatively less optimistic.

Despite its seriousness, the morning after the Bali bombing saw the Singapore stock market going up - not down - and it has continued to rise since then.

Some say there's a perverse reason for it. Without being insensitive to the dead, they explain that the attack on Bali has forced Indonesia to act against terrorist groups.

It now wants to declare Jemaah Islamiah as a terrorist group; without it the group would probably continue to operate undisturbed.

(This article was first published in the Sunday Star, Malaysia.)