The creation of Martyrs

Many months before the executions of three men who killed 202 persons & wounded more than 300 others in the 2002 bombing in Legian Bali i.e Amrozy, Imam Samudera and Ali Gufron, our TVs, radios, newspapers/magazines have been continuously spreading various news about them.

Almost everything about them were being told to our public from time to time, like what they do in prison, about their families, about their lawyers’ best efforts to prevent the executed, etc. The more pending their execution is the more stories were told again and again. As a logical consequence, the minds of our public, especially those living in rural area, were filled with long lasting memories about those three men. It brought sympathy for them and leads to the creation of fanatic supporters for them and their causes. This can be seen from the fact that after they were executed, many people have openly shown sympathy and support for them and their causes. Some even reacted violently against the police during their funeral.
As normal people, we would obviously condemn anyone who condones the killing of innocent people for whatever cause they might have. Likewise, we would also condemn those who support those killers. However, we should also ask ourselves whether or not we play any role in the creation of such sympathy and support. Let us be fair with ourselves and admit that if those three men have not been reported continuously from time to time, public’s reaction on their death execution would not have been so great. It would be relevant to compare their execution with the execution of Drug Dealers/ Traffickers whereby nobody cares, except their families and friends. As a matter of fact many people, including the mass media, are very happy because we have got rid of them.

In conclusion, I felt that our mass media has played a role in the creation of sympathy and support for the Bali Bombers and their evil cause, especially among people in rural area, which leads to martyrdom. Considering this fact, it would be better if people in the mass media to always bear in mind those consequences every time they want to broadcast news to the public.

Image:CopyrightFreePhotos