I just learn from a friend from the industry who escaped unharm during the terrorist attack at Oberoi Hotel of Mumbai.
According to him, the terrorists were shooting indiscriminately at the restaurant guests. The terrorist didn't sort out certain nationalities before shooting. It was indiscriminate shooting to churn out the heaviest casualties.
As the terrorists were shooting, everyone were running for their life and my friend was fortunate to have escaped and survive. His American colleague and a local business partner were not as fortunate. They were killed and another local business associate were severely injured.
Not until I learn this first hand from someone I know personally, terrorism is always somewhat inpersonal and remote. This is the closest experience I had with terrorism. It really send a chill down my spine.
I had traveled to Mumbai and I had stayed at Oberoi. The victim could have been me, and indeed anyone who happens to be at the place and at the time.
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Very true. Everything hits home when its no longer abstract. The greater the collective memory, the greater the impact.
I remember having been to both the Taj and the Oberoi back in 1991 when my father was in Bombay for surgery. We had gone to the Taj because they apparently had the best Chinese restaurant. And I had gone to the Oberoi for coffee and 'sanity' time i.e. a respite from the mess of Bombay for a few hours.
I feel sad for the victims and for India. On the same vein, I also despair at the callous recklessness of certain groups in Thailand. No doubt many millions will suffer when the economic toll from human actions filters down the economy. No doubt they will attempt to blame the "other" for it. But what is clear is that many dreams would be dashed, fortunes lost and plans unmade.
I remember from the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, an observer once said to me, the true impact would all be personal and away from the CNN screens. A 3% or 5% fall in the GDP growth rate might be abstract but it is not for the girl who got out of school and became a prostitute to support the family; or some one being told by their parents he has to turn down the place in the university; or some one who in two months had to close down a business that took a lifetime to build; or the farmer who cannot afford to buy medicine for his children...etc. etc.
What terrorism wanted to accomplish (apart from the perverse vanity attracting instant attention and publicity; which unfortunately its human nature to pour fuel to where the fire is) is to spread despair and to stoke the fires of division. The idea is violence breeds fear; fear breeds division and suspicion; which begets more violence, less civilized tolerence and more irrational lashing-out and despair. Its the test of society to be calm, tempered, tolerant and civilized, because that in itself removes the fuel from the fires of terrorism.
The first battle in overcoming terrorism is always the internal one against fear and despair.
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