Bali Bombings

Brooke Paulson

810143603

Essay #1: Indonesia 1011

 On October 12, 2002 Bali suffered from a series of terrorist bomb

attacks. Bombs exploded in the tourist district of Kuta, located on the

southern side of Bali. As a result, 202 people lost their lives and 209

people were injured. Although devastating, these bombings did not

only impact the people and families of those injured or killed, they also

severely affected the economy of Bali. Tourism was and still is heavily

relied upon to support the lesser-developed island of Bali. Although the

island has seen its economy return to what it once was, many locals

say the bombings have forever left a scar.

The attack involved the detonation of three bombs. The first

bomb exploded in a backpack-mounted device carried by a suicide

bomber inside the nightclub Paddy’s Pub causing many patrons to run

out into the street. Just fifteen seconds later a second bomb exploded

from within a white Mitsubishi van. The car bomb was reported as

being far more powerful than the first bomb and was detonated by a

suicide bomber outside of the Sari Club, just across the street from

Paddy’s Pub. Both of these businesses were known as some of the

most popular nightclubs in Kuta, an area highly populated by tourism.

It was later discovered that the bomb within the van had been rigged

by remote control detonation in the event that the suicide bomber

changed his mind. Neighboring buildings were destroyed from the car

bomb that left a one-meter deep crater and many people realized the

damage was too large to count. The third bomb was a much smaller
device and was detonated outside the United States consulate in

Denpasar, which caused only minor damage. The local Sanglah

hospital was not prepared or equipped to deal with the size of this

disaster and it was noted that victims were placed in hotel pools to

ease the pain of their burns until further help could be reached.

The death toll reached a remarkably high number of 202, 164 of

whom were foreign nationals and 38 of which were Indonesian citizens.

Horrific burns were found on many of the 209 injured victims. Among

those killed, was a group of 88 Australians who had traveled to Bali for

holiday. Although the devastation was sobering, several acts of

heroism were seen throughout the island. One particular couple

created a makeshift recovery center in the lobby of the hotel where

they were staying. The compassion and love exuded from the people of

Bali and the island stood together as a team attempting to make it

through this tragedy.

Bali accounts for roughly 40% of Indonesia’s earnings from

tourism, which had earned a total of 5.4 billion USD in foreign

exchange on average per year. Tourism, clothing, textiles and

petroleum are the biggest products for sources of income for

Indonesia. The Bali bombings reinforced negative sentiment about the

country amongst prospective investors and caused the economy to

take a downfall. Not only was tourism diminishing, but investors were

reluctant to commit to Indonesia because they feared political

instability and poor economic prospects.

Three individuals were convicted in relation to the bombings and

were known to be members of the Jemaah Islamiyah. This group was

known to be a violent Islamist group existing within the area. On

November 9th, 2008 three members convicted for the bombings were

executed by firing squad on the island prison of Nusakambangan at

00:15 Local time.

In 2006 an Indonesian feature film about the bombings was

released called, Long Road to Heaven. It tells the story during three

different periods of time: the planning a few months before the

bombing, the execution of the plan in 2002 and the trials in 2003

through the viewpoints of both the victims and the bombers.

Furthermore, a permanent memorial was built on the site of the

demolished Paddy’s Pub, just off of Legian Street. The memorial

consists of carved stone set with a large marble plaque,which bears

the names and nationalities of each of those killed. The

memorialPerhaps this doesn’t bring justice to the situation, but it did

provide a bandage to the gaping wound found within Bali.

 Work Cited

Parliamentary Library (2002). Retrieved March 15, 2009 from,

http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/CIB/2002-03/03cib04.htm.

BBC News (2002). Bali loses its innocence. Retrieved March 15, 2009

from,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspon

dent/2342495.stm.

BBC News (2002). Death toll set at 202. Retrieved March 16, 2009

from, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2778923.stm.