You would think that after everything we’ve been through recently, anybody with even the slightest amount of common sense would realize that it is an extremely bad idea to joke about bombs, especially in an airport.
But for some reason, the deputy chairman of the North Sumatra House of Representatives Zulkifli Efendi Siregar did not see a problem with making a joke about having a bomb in his bag shortly before flying to Jakarta. He is the second Indonesian politician to have made a bomb joke in as many months.
Zulkifli was checking in to a Batik Air flight to Jakarta last Friday afternoon at Kualanamu International Airport (KNIA) in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra, when he was asked by the check-in clerk if he had any valuables stored in his suitcase.
Zulkifli casually replied that there was a bomb inside. The clerk said he shouldn’t say such things if they’re not true, but Zulkifli just left the check-in counter.
The clerk then informed airport security officers, who detained Zulkifli and took him in for questioning. The legislator said that he made the joke out of irritation.
“I told them there was a bomb because of the long queue,” he said, as quoted by Tribunnews.
Zulkifli did admit that what he had done was wrong and a violation of the rules.
“I was going to Jakarta in order to work and handle the affairs of my party. I know what I did was wrong, there are rulings against saying you have a bomb.”
It is not clear what, if any, legal penalties Zulkifli will face for his explosive joke.
Earlier this month, a 69-year-old woman was arrested for making a bomb joke at Yogyakarta’s Adisucipto Airport. At that time, authorities noted that such statements could be punished by up to a year in prison.
In December, a local legislator from Sulawesi delayed a Batik Air flight leaving Jakarta with his own bomb joke. However, he somehow managed to avoid any criminal charges.
