Last week turned dark for Australia’s Indonesian neighbour when a parent and four young children detonated suicide bombs in front of three churches in the city of Surabaya, East Java. Theirs were not the only bombs discovered that day, nor were they the only family with intent to kill — two other families, fortunately less successful, were later revealed to be part of the same plot. Just days before the Surabaya bombs, terrorist inmates seized control of a Jakarta prison and slaughtered five officers. The police responded swiftly, rounding up suspects across the country. The chilling message was clear that terror is all around.

Indonesians grappled with these shocking events in different ways. Almost all condemned the acts of terror; nearly none laid blame for the violence on Islam. The narrative distinguishing Muslims from terrorists is dominant — but here ends the agreement. How the country arrived at this juncture and what needs to be done are hotly debated.

One line of argument blames the government for failing to prevent the tragedy. Conspiracy theories abound, including suggestions that the deadly attacks were a ploy to distract attention from other critical issues. Speculation about who orchestrated the attacks, with insinuations of state involvement, have spread to national politics, multiplied and amplified by social media.

Others explain the predicament by linking terrorism to growing intolerance, often so closely as to characterise individuals and groups with intolerant views as “radicals” and “extremists” with some even calling for public measures to limit the freedom of movement and expression of those who espouse these views.

Neither of these approaches is useful in formulating a national agenda to move forward together, an agenda that must encompass multiple goals: addressing intolerance, combating terrorism, and upholding democratic values.