A pressure cooker bomb attack at Pendawa Park, Bandung, West Java, on Monday did not deter students from pursuing the suspect at the location. They bravely chased the suspect.
Grade 11 students of SMA 6 high school in Bandung, who were exercising at Pendawa Park, Arjuna, Cicendo, Bandung, heard the explosion.
One student, Lupy Muhamatullah, 17, was quick to look around and spotted the source of the explosion. Standing 15 meters from the explosion, he saw a man lying on the grass close to the explosion wearing a black jacket. Papers and banknotes were scattered around.
Lupy was too afraid to get close to the explosion. However, seconds later, when the man stood up and walked over to his motorbike, he and his friends became suspicious.
They inched closer to the man. Unexpectedly, the man took out a knife and threatened Lupy and his friends.
“We were afraid. But, we chased him. We did not know if he brought a firearm,” he said.
Chased by the students, the suspect decided not to take his motorbike. Instead, he ran to the office of the Arjuna sub-district, about 100 meters from the explosion. The suspect threatened the students, “come here. If you dare, fight me,” Lupy said, quoting the suspect.
Upon hearing this, one of the students Muhamad Syafii Nurhikmah, 17, challenged him back. “Come here, if you dare.”
Syafii challenged him to fight without weapons. “I am angry. What if the bomb injured my friends?”
Fifteen minutes later, when police personnel arrived, Syafii was aware that the suspect brought something dangerous. The suspect brought a pistol and fired it. “I have to admit I did not realize he brought a firearm.”
Porridge seller
Yayat Cahdiyat, 41, a resident of Cukanggenteng village, Pasirjambu district, Bandung regency, was identified as the suspect. He was previously sentenced to three years in jail for transporting ammunition to Aceh in 2011. He was a candil (sweet rice porridge) seller. He used to live in Purwakarta, West Java, and later moved to Pasirjambu, Bandung, 25 kilometers south of Bandung city center.
Alis Wiwin, 43, said Yayat was known to move into rented houses. In Pasirjambu, he had lived in two rented houses. To pay the house bills of Rp 250,000, Yayat sold porridge.
His life in Cukanggenteng was far from prosperous. Local residents often brought him used clothes. Local residents could not stand seeing Yayat’s wife, Cucu Herlina, wearing worn out clothes. However, the attention of local residents did not make Yayat open to the people. He and his family remained very private.
Alis was shocked to hear Yayat, often called Abu Salam, was suspected of the bomb attack in Bandung. It has been six months since Yayat’s rented house has been occupied. The house was quiet and locked. A small padlock was seen at the front door.
Antiterrorism
Lupy and Syafii said they did not have special training about antiterrorism. However, they had been introduced to terrorist prevention through visiting police officers.
“Although we did not know he was a terrorist initially, we knew he was spreading violence,” Syafii said.
Padjadjaran University criminologist Yesmil Anwar appreciated what the students and residents had done in chasing the terrorist suspect. However, he warned the students such an action was too dangerous. The suspect
could easily harm the students and other residents using his weapons.
Yesmil regretted the death of the terrorist suspect. Were he still alive, he could be questioned about his network and future terrorist attack plans. This was a small-scale terrorist attack and served as a warning for the potential of larger attacks. (TAM/BKY/SEM)
