Two suspected suicide bombers died instantly, the police said.

At least five policemen who were escorting a traditional parade to welcome the Islamic fasting month of Ramadhan also fell victim, three of whom are reported to have died. At least five civilians were also injured.

The terrorist attack took place while the world was still mourning the victims of the suicide bombing of the concert by US pop star Ariana Grande in Manchester, UK, only a day before.

The busy Transjakarta bus rapid transit hub in East Jakarta and the surrounding area descended into chaos after the explosions. The terminal is located in a densely populated area.

Footage and pictures of the scene have gone viral on social media. Some of the footage shows people panicking, screaming and running away from the terminal. Other images depict scattered body parts.

Traffic around the scene was blocked off and rerouted.

A police officer guards the bomb site at the Kampung Melayu bus station in East Jakarta. (Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Setyo Wasisto said one explosion occurred at a motorcycle parking lot.

“The glass at the corridor seven [bus stop], where passengers alight, was smashed to pieces,” Transjakarta president director Budi Kaliwono said, adding that the Transjakarta service would continue, but would not stop at Kampung Melayu.

He added that no Transjakarta staff or passengers were among the casualties and urged members of the public to immediately report any suspicious activities.

The injured victims were treated at the Premier Hospital and Hermina Hospital in East Jakarta.

As of midnight, no claim of responsibility for the attack had been received.

Setyo said he was optimistic the police would be able to identify the perpetrators and any possible terrorist ring soon.

“The body parts [of the attackers] remain at the scene. The parts from the neck above are still intact so the face can be identified,” he said.

Mobile Brigade personnel from the Jakarta Police are deployed to the area nearby the Kampung Melayu bus terminal in East Jakarta following bomb blasts on Wednesday evening.(Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)

The attack is believed to have been targeted at the police, making it the latest terror attack to have targeted the police in recent years.

On Jan. 14, 2016, Jakarta was rocked by multiple explosions, including one at a police post, and gunfire around the Sarinah shopping mall in Central Jakarta. At least eight people, including four attackers and four civilians, were killed. A total of 20 people were injured, including five police officers.

Setyo said the police had detected possible attacks in Jakarta. “We were not able yet to identify when or where [they might happen],” he said.

Setyo said the police suspected the perpetrators of the attack were related to terror groups behind other attacks in other countries, including the Manchester bombing.

#PrayForJakarta and #KamiTidakTakut (We are not afraid) emerged on the worldwide internet trending topic list immediately after the incident.

“Everyone, please stay safe! #PrayforJakarta,” Singer-songwriter Raisa posted on her twitter handle @Raisa6690, which has been retweeted by more than 1,000 users as of 1 a.m. on Thursday.

That was the cue for final-year architecture student Tan Zhi Jie, 22, to get ready to leave the iconic venue for the night, probably the most dangerous night out for thousands of youngsters such as himself.

All of a sudden, a huge blast went off two blocks of seats away from where Tan, a student at University of Manchester, was.

“None of us knew what it was or what happened. My seat was in the upper circle and I saw many people, especially kids, screaming and crying. The next thing I knew, everything got chaotic and I was pushed all the way out to the exit,” he told The Star.

Tan jostled with the panicked crowd to exit the venue, only to be greeted by the sight of bleeding people, police cars and ambulances.

It only dawned on him that a bomb might have gone off when he saw smoke billowing from the other side of the arena.

“I saw a lady; she … she was begging the policeman for help and the policemen weren’t sure what to do. “There were a lot of people screaming, crying, running and bleeding.

“There were also people resting next to police cars,” said Kuala Lumpur-born Tan, who went to the concert alone as he couldn’t find anyone to accompany him.

When he was out in the open, he walked around for about half an hour before he boarded a bus back to his university.

“I just felt really sorry for all the casualties,” said Tan, who was so overwhelmed that he did not leave his hostel after his first ever concert.

Tan’s phone beeped non-stop with messages and many missed calls, asking about his condition. He contacted his father via video call to inform him what had happened and that he was safe.

“A concert should be a place of joy, abandonment and outright fun. We saved up for our tickets to see our favourite artistes.

“We sang, danced and enjoyed every single moment, but what happened right after that was just traumatic and heartbreaking.

“This is definitely the worst moment of my life, and I still can’t believe that the concert I’d been longing to go to would end like that.

“I’m really lucky. I hope those who lost their lives could rest in peace,” said Tan.

The devastating blast, which took place at a foyer outside the Manchester Arena at 10.30pm on Monday (5.30am on Tuesday, Malaysian time), killed 22 and injured 59.

British police have since arrested a 23-year-old man in connection with the act, believed to be a suicide bomb attack. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility.

Five other Malaysian students managed to leave the concert venue safely, according to the Malaysian High Commission in Britain.

There are 1,303 Malaysian students in Manchester – 1,081 at University of Manchester, 129 at Manchester Metropolitan University, and 93 at University of Salford.

Malaysian Students’ Society of Manchester president, Khoo Soo Han, 21, urged fellow students to contact their family members to reassure them of their safety, and to stay vigilant.

The materials science and engineering student at University of Manchester advised students to avoid crowded areas for the time being, adding that it was also examination period now.

Manchester Arena, which opened its doors in 1995, is one of the busiest venues in the world and the largest indoor arena in Europe, with a capacity of 21,000 people.

It has hosted the biggest names in live entertainment, including U2, The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Pavarotti and the record-breaking 2010/2011 residency by British comedian Peter Kay. It was also the venue for several major sporting events.

The bombing in Manchester is the second terror attack in Britain this year.

In March, a lone assailant drove a car at high speed into pedestrians on London’s Westminster Bridge before launching a frenzied knife attack on a policeman guarding the parliament building.

Five people were killed, including a Romanian woman who succumbed to her injuries a few weeks later.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said the Manchester blast was being treated as a terrorist attack, making it the deadliest militant assault in Britain since the 2005 suicide bombings on London’s transport system that killed 52 people.

Duterte declared martial law in the southern region of Mindanao, home to about 20 million people, on Tuesday night after gunmen who had declared allegiance to the Islamic State group rampaged through a southern city.

At least three security force personnel died on Tuesday as they battled the militants in Marawi, a mainly Muslim city of about 200,000 people, with authorities reporting that gunmen burned a Catholic Church and other buildings.

“Our fellow Filipinos, do not be too scared,” Duterte said from Moscow, where he had just begun an official visit that he abruptly ended to fly home and deal with the crisis.

Duterte vowed to be ruthless in quelling the terrorism threat in Mindanao, drawing parallels with martial law imposed by dictator Ferdinand Marcos during his two-decade rule that ended with a “People Power” revolution in 1986.

“It could not be any different from what President Marcos did,” Duterte said, as he reminded Filipinos of his election campaign pledge last year to be “harsh” in dealing with terrorism.

“What I told everyone, do not force my hand into it. I have to do it to preserve the Republic of the Philippines, the Filipino people,” he said.

Duterte also said that martial law in Mindanao could last up to a year.

Critics of Duterte, who has waged a controversial war on drugs that has claimed thousands of lives, have feared that he may use various security threats as an excuse to impose a form of authoritarian rule.

Opposition Senator Francis Pangilinan, president of the Liberal Party, expressed concern on Wednesday that martial law could lead to military abuses, citing extrajudicial killings under Marcos.

“Our painful experience with the imposition of martial law under the Marcos dictatorship should serve as a reminder that we must, as citizens, stay vigilant,” Pangilinan said in a statement.

– Deadly clashes –

==================

The fighting in Marawi erupted on Tuesday afternoon after security forces raided a house where they believed Isnilon Hapilon, a leader of the infamous Abu Sayyaf kidnap gang and Philippine head of IS, was hiding.

The United States regards Hapilon as one of the world’s most dangerous terrorists, offering a bounty of $5 million for his capture.

More than 100 gunmen responded to the raid by burning buildings and conducting other diversionary tactics, according to Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.

Photos posted on social media by residents showed the gunmen walking through the streets of Marawi and placing black flags that looked similar to those used by IS.

Lorenzana said on Tuesday night that many gunmen were hiding in buildings as snipers, making it difficult for security forces to combat them.

There were no reports of fighting on Wednesday morning, although it was unclear if the militants were still in the city or had escaped into nearby mountains and forests that they have long used as hideouts.

Authorities did not give any updates on the whereabouts of Hapilon.

The Abu Sayyaf, based on the most southern islands of Mindanao, has kidnapped hundreds of Filipinos and foreigners since the early 1990s to extract ransoms. The United States lists it as a terrorist organisation.

Security analysts say Hapilon has been trying to unite Filipino militant groups that have professed allegiance to IS.

These include the Maute group, which is based near Marawi.

The Maute group has engaged in repeated deadly battles with the military over the past year.

Muslim rebels have been waging a rebellion since the 1970s for an independent or autonomous homeland in Mindanao, with the conflict claiming more than 130,000 lives.

The main Muslim rebel groups are involved in peace talks with the government.

But the Abu Sayyaf, Maute and other hardline groups are claiming they want to set up an Islamic caliphate in the south for IS, according to security analysts.

The US and other Western governments warned this month that terrorists were planning to kidnap foreigners in tourist hotspots in the western and central Philippines, adding to longstanding advisories of abduction threats in Mindanao.//AFP

See also: As Asean turns 50, region’s leaders must prepare young generation for the future

There are two solutions for Latin America to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the

Fourth Industrial Revolution – educating and connecting its people, according to the World Economic Forum. Like everywhere else, Latin America needs a workforce that is trained in essential and emerging networking skills, as well as

non-technical skills like proficiency in English, team work, problem solving, creativity and innovation, and communication.

The ministries of education in that region are aware of these skills gaps, and they have entered into partnerships with nonprofit organisations and corporations such as network provider Cisco to get training to the people who need it. More than one million individuals in Latin America have graduated from Cisco’s Networking Academy since 1998. And that number is growing exponentially.

Networking Academy students are not always your typical displaced job seekers. A 99-year-old man, encouraged by his granddaughters, recently graduated from a Networking Academy Get Connected programme in Buenos Aires. Nonprofit organisations in Peru are targeting those who might otherwise have a hard time finding work: at-risk youth, people with disabilities, and people in remote communities in the jungles.

In Colombia, a programme known as Vive Digital is a prime example of how government, community, business and technology can be brought together to combat the issues that hinder connectivity.

Vive Digital provided more than 6,000 students with 100 per cent

forgivable loans to study ICT-related careers as part of its Talento Digital initiative. In addition, 2.5 million public servants have been certified as digital citizens, empowering them to take ownership of technology and its

functionality.

The programme also addressed the need to source locally relevant coverage. A GSMA study found a lack of local content as the most important factor for the lack of connectivity – more than affordability or coverage – in most of Latin America.

Generally, local content is entertainment focused. As a result, people tend to believe that the Internet is merely a channel for entertainment. They are unaware of how much research, data, health information and other tools can be accessed online.

Vive Digital created a national network of ViveLabs, installing 17 laboratories to develop digital content: video games, informational animation series, devices and applications. Online marketing and monetisation workshops were also provided.

If Asean is shaped by foresighted leaders, the selection of Tan Hooi Ling as co-chairwoman of the World Economic Forum on Asean 2017 is a telling example of the group’s future.

[See aslo: An idea from Latin America]

Topics on digital technology and youngsters dominated this year’s WEF Asean meeting, which took place on May 11 and 12 with four Asean leaders – from the Philippines, Laos, Vietnam and host Cambodia – in attendance.

The star leaders attending the forum were the likes of Malaysian-born Tan, 32, co-founder of Grab, the region’s No 1 mobile taxi booking service network, and William Tanuwijiya of Tokopedia, a start-up from Indonesia. They aired hopes for the future, alongside regional veteran players like Tony Fernandez of Air Asia and Tevin Vongvanich of PTT.

But can Asean members, celebrating the bloc’s 50th anniversary this year, have both the credibility and capability to form a regional “digital economy” strategy to propel the group forward? It certainly has the right profile with just over half of the regional bloc’s 622-million population being of Tan’s generation and younger.

When it was founded 50 years ago, carefully crafted policies on peace and security put the group on the global map. Then came the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) of the early 1990s, which delivered reasonable successes.

But the Asean Economic Community (AEC), which came into being at the start of this year, has proven to be “a bang with disappointment”. Non-tariff barrier measures among members jumped four times from 2010 to 2015 instead of receding; tariff rates have yet to come down to zero as planned; and the ease of customs clearance has not materialised overall, according to a business study across the 10 Asean economies.

“There was expectation, a promise, but these were not fulfilled… Asean has not transformed into a single market and a single production base,” said a regional business analyst.

On top of this, the bloc is being pulled in all directions by forces beyond its control, particularly with the rise of China.

But the technology-driven world is accelerating. The WEF’s so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution through advancements in genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, robotics and nano- and bio-technology will likely result in job displacement, especially in labour incentive industries – many of which Asean currently excels in.

Asean must prepare its young population for the future.

“Every job is going to change. Asean must train people to be prepared to be flexible, adaptable, and ready for lifelong learning, ready to change as the nature of work and jobs change,” said John Rice, vice chairman of US-based General Electric at a WEF panel discussion.

Despite Tan’s start-up generation push, Asean leaders are far from forming a visionary consensus. Forum host and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen was still toiling on the virtue of “the Asean Way”. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte wanted to see a “drug-free” Asean. Laotian Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith warned of a coming era of “ageing” in Asean.

It was left to Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to push the technology agenda to the forefront. He proposed that Asean should set up a working group on education, vocational training and start-up promotion. “As a dynamic member of Asean, Vietnam is working towards sustainable growth by taking advantage of the Fourth Industrial Revolution to raise labour productivity, competitiveness and jump to a higher place in the global value chain,” he said.

Vietnam’s planners are tapping into “knowledge based” sources as the country prepares to host the WEF Asean meeting next year when Singapore, already a regional digital technology hub, will also be chairing the regional bloc. Will they together help Asean “reinvent” itself in the technology-driven era?

Some Asean economies do have seed digital policies.

Thailand, for instance, has embraced the 4.0 Revolution through the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) initiative. A package of incentives is available for global firms and talent to come and develop tech projects in Chon Buri, Chachoengsao

and Rayong, where many automobile and electronic industries are based.

Minister for Digital Economy and Society Pichet Durongkaveroj also wants the EEC to serve the CLMV countries – Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam – such as in sharing the fibre-optic network off Laem Chabang for cost competitiveness to all users and scalability.

Competing globally

Indonesia’s Patrick Walujo, managing partner of investment firm Northstar Advisers, sees the chance for Southeast Asia to compete globally in the Fourth Industrial Revolution if the governments pay more attention. Presently, Indonesian start-ups succeed by “natural selection” with no favour from the state.

A digital economy should become a national issue as it encompasses industrial structure, family and human capital. “We can leapfrog with the right national agenda,” pointed out Jamaludin Ibrahim, CEO of Axiata Group of Malaysia, which under the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak has taken on the initiative.

Manpower development is a challenge for almost all Asean members with the exception of Singapore and perhaps Malaysia. According to Christophe Duchatellier, Asia-Pacific head of Adecco Group, there is an acceleration of demand across the region for IT, engineering and life sciences. “These are most difficult to find with insufficient young talents,” he said.

Education reform is the buzzword in all Asean capitals but each finds the implementation hard, let alone carrying it out across the region. The millennia also demands purpose for the work they do, as well as wanting to be in an ecosystem of good people and, of course, get good pay.

Asean can definitely do with a larger start-up population, to which Grab’s Tan outlined ingredients of success: “First, make sure you

solve the real problems; and second, possess a burning desire to solve them in the most innovative way.”

While an Asean digital strategy is subject to further debate and consensus among the group’s leaders, the AEC experience thus far doesn’t bode well for the bloc’s credibility for a new initiative. For many including Nick Nash, president of Sea Group, the missing ingredient is deregulation, so much so that it is often difficult for Asean-based companies to get licences to operate in fellow Asean countries, and make a case for allowing local and regional champions to emerge.

“Asean is the cheapest place to

be rich and the most expensive place to be poor,” he said, implying that small businesses bear a disproportionate burden of compliance with expensive procedures and regulations.

With the lack of evidence on AEC progress, the region’s business leaders are wary of new promises from Asean.

Yet, they are prepared to be pragmatic on further trade and transportation integration of the bloc, and not expect too much. Some advocate going back to the basics of costless initiatives such as making customs clearance more transparent so that trade is seamless and costs can start to come down.

So, is Asean’s digital drive still a world away? Fifty years since its founding, Asean should tap the energy and innovation of its tech-empowered people, reckons Tan. “We equally hold the future of Asean in our hands and should actively shape it,” she said.