Bomb jokes on Indonesian flights have officials cracking down, not up

It’s not funny, people. That’s the message the Indonesian authorities are trying to send, as a sudden rash of jokes about bombs has resulted in flight disruptions across the country. Monday night, at least 10 passengers suffered injuries, including broken bones, after a man on a Lion Air plane preparing to take off from the city of Pontianak on Borneo island told a flight attendant there was a bomb on board. Indonesian news media said Monday’s episode was the ninth bomb scare this month that started with a joke, and the seventh on Lion Air alone. A 2009 law imposes a penalty of up to 8 years for joking about bombs in airports or planes in Indonesia. But enforcement of the law has been weak — at least until this week, when the authorities charged the joker in Monday’s incident and vowed to follow up on other cases. <br/>