Jokowi on Jakarta blasts: We condemn this act of terror

JAKARTA, Indonesia – President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo condemned the explosions throughout Jakarta on Thursday, January 14, calling the blasts an “act of terror.”

“We don’t have to be afraid. We will not be defeated by acts of terror like this,” he said from Majalengka, West Java where he is for work.

He also said he would return to Jakarta immediately, adding he asked Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Luhut Panjaitan to immediately arrest the perpetrators.

In a statement, Jokowi also asked that people do not speculate about the explosions.

“I’ve heard the reports about the explosion in Jakarta. We don’t have details yet. I send my deep condolences to the victims of the explosion,” he said in a statement.

“I ask the people to stop speculations until we get the explanation from the intensive investigation of the police. Let’s give time for the police to do their investigations to find out who is behind these acts of terror.”

“We condemn this terrorist act.”

A series of bombs killed at least 6 people in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Thursday with shots fired outside a cafe as security forces moved in, police and witnesses said.

The explosions were close to a shopping center, the Sarinah, where bodies were seen strewn on the ground.

The bombs come just weeks after Jakarta was placed on high alert after anti-terror police foiled what they said were plans for an New Year suicide attack in the Indonesian capital.

Late last month police said they had arrested two men, including a member of China’s Uighur minority, who they claimed were involved in the plot.

After a series of attacks on foreigners in the last decade, Indonesian extremists have in recent years directed their violence at domestic “enemies of Islam”, mostly police.

There have been no attacks against foreigners since the 2009 twin hotel bombings in Jakarta that killed 7 people. – Rappler.com/with reports from Antara and Agence France-Presse