Most of the media coverage of the recent bombings in Jakarta seem to be skirting around the edges of… something.

It seems that the target of the Marriott bombing was a regular business meeting held there – but a regular business meeting involving which companies and organisations?

From combing the various reports, it appears that it was a meeting run by a US-based  consulting company called CastleAsia "a Jakarta-based consultancy helping multinationals access local markets." Several mining-related companies were involved, including:

• Chevron
• Husky Oil
• Thiess
• The head of the ANZ Bank’s Natural Resources dept in Indonesia
• Rio Tinto
• Verity HR (mining-related recruitment)
• Austrade
• Freeport–McMoRan Copper & Gold

Considering the recent attacks on employees at the Freeport mine in Papua, which have been linked to the country’s own security forces, and Freeport’s history of paying huge amounts of money to members of the corrupt  Indonesian military for "protection" and it’s shocking human rights record, perhaps the media and our governments might somehow start to connect these acts of violence with the actions of foreign-owned mining companies in Indonesia?

There are lots of suggestions that Jemaah Islamiyah (or a JI splinter group) is behind the bombings but, as far as I’m aware, they are yet to claim responsibility. On top of that, some analysts are suggesting that JI has been wiped out.

Who stands to benefit from the bombings?

Perhaps it *was* JI and perhaps it *is* a senseless bombing of innocent civilians by a group of crazed religious fundamentalists. However it might also be an easy escape goat, a diversion tactic, a neatly-packaged up scenario to stop most of us thinking further about the issue.

Who stands to benefit from the bombings?

The Marriott share price went down.

The Freeport share price went UP.

Who might want to cause trouble in Indonesia?

The guy who lost their recent Presidential election, Prabowo Subianto, a former General and son-in-law of former President Suharto? Let’s remember that Suharto, friend of Australia and the USA, was an incredibly corrupt and evil man. He was also a great friend of Freeport – as was his son-in-law, Prabowo.

Is there some connection between the election result and the recent violence? Have Freeport changed who they are paying protection money to and this is the payback?