Case study The Bali terrorist bombings of October 2002

October 12th’s bombing of two night-clubs at Kuta Beach on the coast of the island of Bali, Indonesia,
killed more than 180 people and was the worst terrorist attack in Indonesian history. By 18 October, 183
people were known to have died and more than 300 were injured. The largest group of dead and injured
came from Australia, but British, Americans, New Zealanders, Germans and French were among the
casualties, as well as local Indonesians.

In the immediate aftermath of the bombing no one claimed responsibility. But the apparent
sophistication of the operation and the known existence of active groups of supporters of Osama bin
Laden, led both the Indonesian authorities and President Bush to blame the terrorism on al-Qaida and
its extremist allies. This attack follows on from recent attacks on a French tanker and American soldiers
in Yemen. One consequence of this action in Bali is that Indonesia will need to re-evaluate its relaxed
policy towards terrorism. It is likely that the Indonesian people will, however, not be spared the long-
term consequences of Saturday’s attack or the failure of the government to deal effectively with
terrorists. Approximately 1.5 million foreigners visited Bali in 2001, almost one third of the 5 million
international visitors to Indonesia. Visitors to Bali contributed almost US$ 2 million to the Indonesian
economy in 2001. Indonesia is predominantly a Muslim country, but Bali is an island where the Hindu
religion has been practiced for several hundred years. The islands relaxed attitudes to sex and dress
codes, as well as general expectations of tourist behavior, compared to many other parts of Indonesia,
has encouraged foreign tourists and particularly young Western backpackers to visit. It is probably the
relatively unrestrained nature of life on an island surrounded by a country with generally stricter Islamic
beliefs, coupled with the presence of large numbers of foreign visitors that has made Bali a suitable (and
now it is recognized a too easy) target for militant Muslim terrorists. As early as 2 days after the
bombings, several tour operators from the United Kingdom, United States and Australia were flying
clients out of the island. A large number of Western tourists in Bali were on round-the-world tickets and
many of these were expected to be leaving earlier than expected. A senior spokesperson for the
Association for British Travel Agents suggested that it would probably be a couple of years before the
island recovered. He insisted that it would recover, arguing that it was unlikely tourist would be put off
visiting Muslim countries. The Luxor Massacre in Egypt in 1997 was the worst terrorist attack on
holidaymakers before the Bali outrage. Numbers here were severely depressed for 2 years but were
back to pre-attack figures by 2000. At the end of December 2002, a, somewhat confusing, picture of
tourism in Bali post the attack was emerging. The UK-based Guardian newspaper showed photographs
of empty beaches and suggested that tourists had abandoned the island, while the Australian
newspaper, The Sydney Morning Herald, published a story that Qantas Airlines had reported almost full
flights to Bali over the Christmas 2002 period.