By: Celine Lim, Zaihan Mohamed Yusof, Charlene Chua, Juliana June Rasul, Pearly Tan, Han Su-Ying, Ervina Mohamed Jamil, Han Yongming, Kay Tan, Jovita Chua, Benita Aw Yeong, Hoe Pei Shan and Nurul Asyikin Mohd Nasir

HIS phone kept ringing, but Taufik Batisah, tired and ill, refused to answer it as he slept in his Jakarta hotel room.

It wouldn't stop, and he finally answered.

It was his mother, sounding very concerned.

'She asked me whether I was okay,' he said. 'I didn't know what she was talking about.'

The Singapore Idol winner had slept through news of the Jakarta blasts yesterday morning, as he had late rehearsals the night before and was nursing a sore throat.

He and other local artistes are in Jakarta to perform for the Anugerah Planet Muzik show.

The regional awards show, introduced in 2000, is being held in Jakarta for the first time.

It will go on as scheduled at the Jakarta Convention Centre at 9pm local time (10pm Singapore time) tonight and shown live on Astrio Ria (SingTel mio TV Ch 34) and Suria.

The local artistes performing include singer Nana and singer-songwriter Didicazli.

Taufik said his mother's call was the first of more than 20 he got from concerned friends and family members. He patiently explained to all of them that the Sultan Hotel, where he is staying, is 2km from the site of the blasts.

'I told them that we actually feel very safe here,' he said. 'We're quite far from the scene.'

When The New Paper spoke to him, he was on a dinner break with the other artistes.

Asked what the mood was like on Jakarta streets, he said: 'I've been told that it's usually more crowded on Friday nights. But other than that, everyone looks okay. We don't feel cemas (Malay for panicked).'

He is determined to go ahead with the show as a sign of defiance to the bombers.

'That's what terrorists do, they want people to be frightened, and stay at home,' he said.

'Hopefully, the show will take people's minds off the tragedy. We have to show that we're not afraid of these things.'

One of the show's coordinators, Mr Hassan Salleh, who is also senior programme director of Ria 89.7FM, said the event's three partners - MediaCorp Radio, Indonesia's Global TV and Beyond DDB from Malaysia - had jointly agreed to go ahead with the show.

'There was a discussion and a decision was made to continue with everything as scheduled,' he said.

'We are not afraid'

The organisers met artistes at breakfast to brief them on what happened, and to inform them that rehearsals would proceed.

The 150-strong team of artistes and crew forged ahead with a full dress rehearsal late last night.

The convention centre is about 2.5km from the bombed hotels.

Mr Hassan said the artistes are safe as the convention centre has guards who do bag checks.

Taufik said he might go out with Indonesian friends on Sunday morning before he flies home.

But are there concerns about the audience turnout at the concert?

Said Didicazli: 'For me, it's really up to the individual. Safety is very important, so if they decide to stay away because of that, I completely understand.'

Keeping cool

But he said the mood among the artistes was still high.

'Everyone's very into the rehearsals for the show,' he said. 'We are keeping cool.'

Stuck in rehearsals since early afternoon, the artistes received updates about the blasts from friends and family here.

'All of us have been getting SMSes and calls from people we know, telling us what they've seen on the news,' said Didicazli.

Going back to their rooms to watch the news was a 'surreal' experience for the singer.

'Taufik and I were discussing that it was very strange to watch the explosions. It's like a movie, but it was happening just a few kilometres away,' he said.

Though Taufik said 'everything is a-okay' with the local contingent, he asked Singaporeans to 'pray it will continue to be safe'.

'I hope nothing happens,' he said. 'All we're doing is music. We're enemies to nobody.'

--TNP

This article was first published in The New Paper.