BALI'S BACK, BUT NO THANKS TO JAKARTA

Back in Jakarta, fatter and with sun burnt shoulders that seem about ripe to start peeling away at any moment, but hey I'm feeling energized and yet a bit deflated about being back at the same time; I've just returned from a few days in Bali.

Bali still appears to be on most South East Asian travellers' itineraries even after all the years of commercialism and mass tourism and the bombings that tried to destroy it all, and yet I guess it's a kind of testament to the so called Island of the Gods that it still seems to conjure up, for some people at least, exotic connotations that way surpass the reality of aggressive hawkers and massage girls, cheap tourist trinkets and bars that promise BLOODY COLD BEER, not to mention the 100% mark up on hotel rates and air fares during the Labaran holiday period.

So there I was back in the throng of some old haunts from my backpacking days; the Poppies Gangs and Jl Legion as well as enjoying those Balinese experiences that are still pleasantly unique; sunning and swimming while watching a local ceremony being performed on a secluded little beach on the Bukit Peninsula (see the snaps below!) and stocking up on some decent reading material from the good range of second hand books at the excellent and friendly Ganesha Bookshop in Ubud (a sure sign that the tourists are coming through again!) and I realized that despite the almost complete tourist orientated commercialization (or annihilation, some might say) of the place, Bali is still one of those destinations that has its definite appeal.





I've been a few times over the years, but the last time was a couple of months after the 2002 bombings. The place was, naturally, devoid of tourists and the store and restaurant owners were desperate, barely making a living, and many local folk were unable to hide their bitterness. The Balinese resentment, which was always there, against their Jakarta government, which they feel feeds off their island with its unique culture and architecture, using it as the icon for the Indonesian tourist industry, was then at its height due to the fact that the Bali bombers and their evil associates were from Java, but today, especially during the mass Labaran migration of the urban Javanese upper class, fleeing from that annual hellish prospect of having to (god forbid!) do basic household chores themselves, without maids, Bali seems to be back to how it was before and the repeated terrorist attacks of the past four years have been paralled by cheap domestic air fares; opening up local tourism and perhaps replacing those foreign tourists who are reluctant to return.

It's easy to forget the menace of terrorism while stuck in the Kuta area night time traffic (the Jakarta macet comes to Bali too during Labaran!) caused by the lines of Kijangs of arriving holiday makers from Jakarta (the B's) and Surabuya (the L's) and seeing all the happy revellers enjoying themselves in the multitude of new night spots that have sprung up. The Bali bombing memorial, which stands opposite the site of what was once The Sari Club, is a sober reminder of the night of October 12, 2002, located in the middle of an area which epitomizes touristy tackiness and holiday fun. The barren and abandoned sites of The Sari club and Paddys, where I, in times past, spent a few drunken nights of oblivion, seem like strangely unutilized space in the heart of Kuta, perhaps ready for some new development, but it'll be some time before the spirits of those 202 people, murdered in cold blood are appeased enough by the regular placing of flowers, wreaths and offerings in remembrance, to allow some entertainment entrepreneurs to once again develop the sites. I struggle to try to and conjure up any memories of those two places as they once were.



The Bali tragedy is remembered as a kind of Australian 9/11 on foreign soil; due to the 89 Australians killed, but there were also 38 Indonesians killed and 25 people from my country; the UK, murdered along with citizens of virtually every country that you come across when holidaying in Bali.

My sister and her then boyfriend (now husband) were in Bali at the time to attend the wedding of a university friend and as the news broke that night of the bombings; members of the very merry wedding party decided to go from their hotel in Jimbaran Bay to the hospitals to give blood, which they joked on the way; was by that stage 90% alcohol, but any joking and feelings of merriment soon evaporated as they arrived at the hospital to be confronted by horrendous scenes of severely burnt and maimed bodies, those still conscious; sobbing and crying out; not just because of their own physical pain but for the unknown fate of their friends or partners or because of the massive blast induced confusion of still trying to comprehend what had just happened to them. Blood was taken by local and foreign doctors; some of the latter were holiday makers themselves, called in to help from an evening of drinking and relaxation, to treat and perform, in some cases, life saving surgery on bodies severely damaged beyond belief.

And then it happened again a few years later. We all remember those gruesome photographs of the heads and limbs of the suicide bombers who entered restaurants in Bali last year and blew them up. I guess anyone now sitting in a busy restaurant or bar in Bali, as I was; enjoying a dinner and a few cold beers might look around and ask what is there to stop another deluded and brainwashed psychopath from walking into the joint with a bomb and blowing the place to smithereens?

Now I don't want to write another piece from the prospective of a foreigner living in a country with one of world's most corrupt police forces and judiciaries or bang on about officers working, yes I know, for a pittance, in Indonesia's anti terrorism division who might be tempted to allow vehicles to pass inspection points for small bribes, but you ask any Balinese what they think about their Jakarta government's decision to refuse to outlaw Jemaah Islamiyah; the organization widely believed to be behind the Bali bombings as well as others; such as the Jakarta Marriott, Australian embassy and various church bombings over the years, or their opinion of the police who are able to devote considerable time and energy to extorting money from people but seem to be able to do very little to deter security threats, as the repeated bombings in Bali and Jakarta have shown. The ordinary Balinese certainly don't feel that these opinions are exclusively those of arrogant and belligerent foreigners who want to tell Indonesia what to do.

Both Presidents Megawati and SBY claimed and claim to take a firm stand against terrorism but those words only came after one of these attacks occurred. Remember that token Vice President bloke; Hamzah Haz; a friend and sympathizer of Abu Bashir Bakr, who publicly denied the presence of any terrorist groups in Indonesia, despite being given reliable intelligence warnings to the contrary pre Bali 2002? Or how about Indonesia's current Vice President; Jusuf Kalla's excuse for not doing anything about Jemaah Islamiyah: "if we have never recognized the existence or the organization, how can we disband it?". Like many things in Indonesian politics, this kind of nonchelance is confusing and creates the perception of a lack of clear government position and opinion on these issues and no doubt contributes to a variety of conspiracy theories as to who exactly was involved and why.

I sincerely hope that foreign and local tourists continue to come in their droves to Bali to spend their currencies in the bars, restaurants, shops and tourist spots but it seems a shame that the Jakarta government should get their lion's share of the tourism industry takings, directly or indirectly, considering their recent and insensitive decisions to free and reduce sentences for Islamic militants; jailed for the Bali bombings to..er..mark the end of the Islamic fasting month and their refusal to outlaw Jemaah Islamiyah along with the release of the smug Abu Bakar Bashir, in a blaze of cheers, applause and publicity, after just 25 months in jail for giving his blessing to the mass murder of civilians and holiday makers. Incidently; while there may be no direct evidence, or shall we say nobody has bothered to find any, to link Bashir to these various bombings, this is the guy, who after all, has vowed to overthrow every Indonesian government since Suharto, so isn't that reason enough to break up Jemaah Islamiyah even if you ignore the fact that much of the world and even The United Nations have listed it as a terrorist organization, making it illegal for people to provide financial and other support. Anyway, don't think this is just more rhetoric from another foreigner in Indonesia, just ask any Balinese taxi driver and they'll tell you the same thing...