Suspected of Guilt

Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world. One of the values of Islam is that piety trumps everything, certainly of absolute value, not to be compared with the mindless consuming of goods. There is no reason to suppose - since we like to believe that all of humankind is born equal and presumably equally endowed with brains, although free will is somewhat stunted in Islamic societies - that Indonesians are any less capable of making informed choices than any other society.

Yes, we understand that because there is a certain amount of behaviour-herding-and-channelling in Islam, that crowds tend to become rather hysterical when they are encouraged to believe that some source - generally un-Islamic, like the infidel West - has blundered horribly by being critical of Islam, its Prophet, or that rumours circulate that some idiot threatens to burn the Holy Koran, it invariably results in a rampage of frightening proportions and intent, all screaming "death to the infidels!".

But come now ... the prospect of obtaining an advanced technological gadget for half-price convincing Indonesians that they must gather in huge numbers to be among the first one-thousand customers to acquire a $540-valued cellphone for $270, being so compelling that they rampage in an inchoate rage when they suspect that something may have gone awry to their expectations?

When Research in Motion's public relations arm in Indonesia had the brilliant idea of concentrating the minds of their valued customers in Jakarta by advertising half-price BlackBerry 9790 models at a shopping centre in that city, they must have felt that this was a truly intelligent marketing gambit geared to increasing their loyal customer base. Which, evidently already has cult status there.

It appears that over 5000 people gathered restively outside the Pacific Place mall in the early hours of November 25. And since the prospect was for only one thousand fortunate souls to be able to take advantage of the half-price sale, obviously there would be four times that number sick to their hearts with disappointment. As the day began to dawn and heat built up, some nerves must have snapped.

Rumours began to spread that all those coveted thousand cellphones had already been distributed. The enraged crowd flung themselves against the barricades, swarmed mindlessly, resentfully, furiously through the shopping centre, in the process crushing over twenty people. Pointing an official finger of blame at the country director for RIM in Indonesia, authorities have named him a suspect in a crime scene.

That crime scene, of course, was the promotion that made thousands of Indonesian hopefuls go utterly berserk, leading to the deaths of twenty people. Not only he, but a number of others, including the mall's own head of security named as 'suspects' in what will ultimately be characterized as a crime earning criminal charges of "negligence causing other people to suffer injuries."

In Indonesia this crime is punishable by a maximum of five years in prison. "At this stage they are banned from leaving the country, as per the legal process in Indonesia", explained the South Jakarta police chief of detectives. "They have not been detained, but have to report to police regularly."

Sigh, is it worth the trouble to attempt to expand a market in a country where RIM was forced to introduce blocks in a futile effort to prevent their cellphones being used to download pornography?