VZCZCXRO7744
RR RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJS #0116 2770930
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 030930Z OCT 08
FM AMCONSUL SURABAYA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0308
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0151
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEHDT/AMEMBASSY DILI 0019
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHJS/AMCONSUL SURABAYA 0313
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0047

UNCLAS SURABAYA 000116 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, DRL, INR/EAP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KISL KIRF PTER EAID PREL ASEC ID PINS
SUBJECT: CENTRAL SULAWESI: MEDIA REPORT OF PALU BOMB PLOT TURNS OUT 
TO BE UNTRUE 
 
This message is sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect 
accordingly. 
 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  A September 30 report titled "Kids Uncover 
Idul Fitri Bomb Terror Plan in Palu" was carried in the English 
language daily, The Jakarta Post.  Congen Surabaya spoke with 
local police, and civil society leaders knowledgeable about 
local media who refuted the Jakarta Post story.  We learned that 
the material detonated by police was likely an unexploded bundle 
of fireworks that raised suspicions due to wire used to bind 
them.  Fireworks are a common part of Indonesia's celebration of 
the Idul Fitri holiday marking the end of the holy month of 
Ramadan.  End Summary 
 
 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The Jakarta Post reported that a suspected terrorist 
bomb was found on September 30 and detonated by police in Palu, 
Central Sulawesi.  The suspect item was reportedly found on the 
eve of the last day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan--a day 
greeted with fireworks by Muslims throughout the city.  However, 
no local police or media sources in Palu could confirm the key 
elements of the Jakarta Post story, titled, "Kids Uncover Idul 
Fitri Bomb Terror Plan in Palu," which described a "cell-phone 
detonator and blinking lights" discovered by children, according 
to their aunt.  Central Sulawesi has a history of 
Muslim-Christian sectarian conflict and the two communities are 
careful to spot and report warning signs of renewed violence. 
Congen Surabaya checked with Palu police, an NGO worker, and the 
former head of a local media association in Palu.  We confirmed 
that Palu print media reported that police detonated an object 
on September 30 near Palu Plaza Mall, but no local sources 
suggested that it was a terrorist's bomb. 
 
 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Palu Deputy Police Commissioner Yoseph directly 
contradicted the Jakarta Post and its quotation of a Palu police 
official named A.B. Sitindjak, who called it a terrorist plot. 
Yoseph told us police on the scene had detonated a bundle of 
fireworks as a precaution and had no reason to think that it was 
a bomb planted to cause injury.  The Jakarta Post story seems to 
confirm this perception by quoting several witnesses who say 
that "police did not follow procedure" or use a blast container, 
but rather "exploded it in the open." 
 
 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Palu's local paper, Radar Sulteng, also reported the 
police detonation near the Palu Plaza mall.  However, Mr. Tasrif 
Syarif, former director of the independent journalists 
association, said that since it was not described as a terrorist 
bomb, the story was not carried in Indonesian language media 
outside Palu.  The English language Jakarta Post appears to be 
the only other paper to have reported the story and the only one 
to have given it a terrorist spin.   Accidents due to stray 
fireworks are common during Ramadan.  Two houses in Palu were 
burned due to stray fireworks on September 30, according to Mr. 
Syarif.  Mr. Sofyan Lembah, director of Central Sulawesi Child 
Protection Agency confirmed this and added that Idul Fitri 
celebrations have a great deal of loud fireworks and loose 
undetonated fireworks and fires are a common hazard during the 
holiday. 
 
MCCLELLAND