Bali Bomb mystery Saturday 12th October
Why does Nyoman only work one day a week as a guide?
202 people died when two car bombs
exploded outside a nightclub on the
island of Bali on Saturday.
Bali receives 1.7 million tourists a
year.
Many people travel to Bali from other
parts of Indonesia.
Australia's government has urged its
citizens to leave Indonesia, which is a
popular destination for Australian tour
firms.
Hotel booking levels in Bali were 70%
of normal a couple of days after the
explosion, but a month later they had
dropped to only 15%.
Every year millions of tourists flock to
the Indonesian island of Bali, lured by
its lush green forests and unspoilt
white sandy beaches.
Bali is known as The Island of the
Gods. It has a strong Hindu culture
that has flourished in what is the
world's most populous Muslim
country, Indonesia.
Kuta, the town where the blast
occurred is a holidaymaker's
playground crammed with bars,
restaurants and nightclubs.
In 2001 about 1.5 million tourists
entered Indonesia at Bali's
international airport.
The majority of overseas visitors
come from nearby Australia. The
island's largest public beach, a
popular haunt for surfers is by Kuta.
Bali is Indonesia's number one tourist The Sari Club, which was at the
spot. It has a population of 3 million of centre of the blast is one of the most
which 95% are Hindu.
frequented clubs on the town's main
street and is jam-packed with partying
About 1.4million tourists visited in
tourists on any given night.
2001
Indonesia is 85% Muslim and while
the vast majority of the population are
moderates the country is home to a
number of Muslim extremist groups.
In the past Indonesian officials have
insisted that Bali was immune to
attack by such Muslim radicals,
because the Hindu culture there is so
strong.
About 20 minutes before the incident
happened we were actually standing
in the restaurant, but we decided just due to the fact that the restaurant
was really full - that we wouldn't go in
that night," Mr Poore said.
One of those expected to be tried
later this year, Mukhlas, is believed to
be the new operations chief for the
regional Islamic militant group
Jemaah Islamiah (JI).
Jean Boyling, King Edward VI High, Lichfield in conjunction with TOPS and
www.sln.org.uk/geography
Islamic militant group Jemaah
Islamiah is thought to want to
overthrow governments in the region
and replace them with a pan-South
East Asian Islamic state.
Many of the people being linked to
the Bali bombings got to know each
other at an Islamic school in
Malaysia. Many radical Muslims fled
here in the early 1990s to dodge the
suppression of the former Indonesian
dictator Suharto.
One result of the plot's failure was
that Singapore and Malaysia clamped
down on dozens of Islamic militants,
holding them without trial under
punitive security laws.
Islamic militant groups decided to turn
to soft targets, as embassies were
becoming better protected.
The two bombs killed mostly foreign
tourists. Australia suffered the
greatest number of casualties, with 88
Australian nationals losing their lives.
Thirty-eight Indonesians, 23 Britons,
nine Swedes, seven Americans, six
Germans and four Dutch nationals
also lost their lives.
FPI supporters are concerned with
local issues, acting within their
communities against what they see
as being against Islamic law.
Under recently passed anti-terror
regulations, Imam Samudra faces the
death penalty if found guilty.
Imam Samudra is one of three
suspects accused of being part of
Jemaah Islamiah, a pan-Asian
network of Muslim extremists which
some governments have accused of
plotting the attacks.
Many members of the Islamic
Defenders' Front (FPI) are young and
believe that Muslims in Jakarta, and
all over Indonesia, have erred from
Islamic teachings.
He says the bombers would have
arrived alongside hundreds of
thousands of Indonesians in search of
work, legally and illegally, and the
human traffic was such that it would
have been impossible to track them.
Tourism is the backbone of the
island's economy.
Unlike other groups the FPI is not
fighting for an Islamic state, but it
does want to establish strict Sharia
law.
Muslim groups say their mission is to
forge a spiritual form of jihad through
preaching, not fighting. It runs a
school and hospital.
Although it has been accused of
raiding nightclubs, analysts do not
think the FPI was involved in the Bali
attack. Nor have they used explosives
before.
As we drove along the small street
leading to the Sari nightclub, more
and more of the shops had lost their
windows, blown out by the force of
the blast Shattered glass was strewn
across the road.
Jean Boyling, King Edward VI High, Lichfield in conjunction with TOPS and
www.sln.org.uk/geography
In one small pile of earth by the road
they found a man's fingers.
There is the occasional, solitary flip
flop here and there, a sad reminder of
all those who rushed to escape the
blaze.
There are no longer any insistent
calls of "Transport" or "You need to
change money?" The daily hustle and
bustle has disappeared from this
once lively surfer's paradise.
Tour operator Nyoman Sumantra
says: "If tourists do not come back
Bali will be empty like it was 20 years
ago.
Guide Nyoman is taking his first
group of tourists of the day to see the
Gitgit waterfall in northern Bali.
Another frequent refrain was: "Please
tell people it's OK to return to Bali."
Suharto’s policy of allowing army
involvement in all levels of
government down to village level
fostered corruption.
Indonesia has seen unprecedented
turmoil over the past four years,
facing first the Asian financial crisis,
then the fall of President Suharto after
32 years in office, bloody inter-ethnic
and religious conflict and unending
corruption scandals.
Indonesia now faces growing
demands for independence among
several provinces, where
secessionists have been encouraged
by East Timor's 1999 success in
breaking away after a traumatic 25
years of occupation.
On a crooked lane off Kuta's main
drag, shop owners are trying to
salvage their stock.
Piercing the subdued atmosphere at
the police cordon is the roar of a
steady stream of scooters and
motorbikes - ordinary Balinese still
trying to go about their lives on a
Monday lunchtime, but having to find
new ways to get across town.
Outside Bali's international airport, we
waited in two long lines in the sticky
heat, along with hundreds of other
foreigners, to pass newly imposed
security checks to leave the country.
The hawkers along the path to the
springs are struggling to sell any of
their souvenirs.
Nyoman and the other guides at the
waterfall are now working just one
day a week each, and are worried
about what the future holds.
Bali relies on tourism to keep its
economy afloat. Some 20% of its
workforce is involved in the industry
and many others depend on it
indirectly.
In nearby Lovina, a popular spot for
lunch by the black sand beach has
more waiters than diners.
General Suharto imposed
authoritarian rule while allowing
technocracts to run the economy with
considerable success.
Soharto’s "transmigration"
programmes - which moved large
numbers of landless farmers from
Java to other parts of the country fanned ethnic conflict.
Jean Boyling, King Edward VI High, Lichfield in conjunction with TOPS and
www.sln.org.uk/geography