[Kabar-indonesia] SCMP: Balinese still hear ghostly screams of bomb victims [4 articles]

[Joyo at aol.com]

4 Reports:

- SCMP: Balinese still hear ghostly
  screams of bomb victims

- Indonesia marks 2002 Bali bombing
  anniversary

- Families quietly remember 2002
  Bali bombings

- Mourners gather on Indonesia's Bali island
  to mark 2002 bombing anniversary


South China Morning Post
Thursday, October 12, 2006

Balinese still hear ghostly screams of bomb victims

By Fabio Scarpello

Time is needed to heal the spiritual wounds caused by the deaths of
202 holidaymakers four years ago, reports Fabio Scarpello in Kuta


Four years after the first Bali bombing, locals say ghosts still haunt
the sites of the two nightclubs that were hit - which remain virtually
vacant.

"We hear their voices. Sometimes it is only whispers, but other times
we hear them singing in English or screaming. There are both women and
men. It seems as if they are surrounded by fire."

There is no fear in Agung Raka's voice as he talks about the ghosts
that still haunt the site where Paddy's Bar once stood, and where he
now watches over cars.

It is during the evening shift, from 7pm to midnight, that he and his
three colleagues most often feel the "presences".

Paddy's Bar was blown to splinters together with the Sari Club, a
nightclub on the opposite side of Jalan Legian, the busiest street in
Kuta, Bali's main tourist resort.

It was October 12, 2002. That night, the island was drawn into the age
of Islamist terrorism.

A total of 202 holidaymakers died in the blasts, including 11 Hong
Kong residents.

Twenty more people were killed in a second attack that targeted one
restaurant in Kuta and two more in the nearby seaside resort of
Jimbaran, three years later.

Jemaah Islamiah, al-Qaeda's Southeast Asian associate, has been blamed
for both the attacks, and a string of others that have bloodied
Indonesia since 2000.

The legacy of the attacks has crippled the local economy, greatly
dependent on foreign tourism.

Tourism contributes 6 per cent to Indonesia's US$258 billion economy
and employs 8 per cent of the workforce. But most of this activity is
concentrated on Bali and the nearby island of Lombok, where 65 per
cent of the workforce is dependent on tourism.

Equally lasting is the spiritual legacy caused by the untimely deaths
of the young partygoers.

Mysticism, fatalism and pragmatism are ubiquitous in Balinese everyday
life, where Hinduism is the main part of a composite faith that
maintains strong Buddhist and Animist tints.

The local branch of Hinduism, Hindu Dharma, is followed by 93 per cent
of the almost 4 million inhabitants and is based on the principles of
Tri Hita Karana, which is the harmony between heaven, humans and the
earth.

In such a system, ghosts inhabit a world parallel to that of the
living, and the balance between the two is kept by an intricate and
delicate series of ceremonies, including the daily offerings, known as
canang sari.

The bombings disturbed the harmony, and the balance remains precarious
years after a major Hindu cleansing ritual was held, in November 2002.

"We conducted the ceremony because we wanted to cleanse the area of
evil spirits," said I Gusti Ketut Sudira, Kuta village leader,
acknowledging that people still report hearing screaming, singing and
crying in the vicinity of the bomb sites.

Hindu priest Ida Pedanda Gede Arimbawa Tianyar Sebali, said time was
needed to heal the wounds of the restless souls and lead them to the
afterlife.

"I believe the souls of the deceased are still in the places where
they died. They are in an in-between world, full of hatred and
confusion. They need to be calmed and led to the afterlife," he said.
"It will get better as time goes by."

In the meantime, he called for the bomb sites to be developed for the
benefit of the living.

At present, the car park is the only commercial activity on the sites.
Where the Sari Club once stood, the barren ground is now fenced.

"Our duty in the universe is to live. To do that, we need to work. I
think it is fine to build on those empty lands. The Balinese have
suffered enough emotionally but also financially," the priest said.

"But it is important to talk to the ghosts. We should let them know
that we don't intend to bother them."

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Indonesia marks 2002 Bali bombing anniversary

KUTA, Indonesia, October 12 (AFP) -- Indonesians on Bali marked the
fourth anniversary of deadly bombings by Islamic extremists on
Thursday by unfurling white cloth symbolising peace through the resort
island's streets.

The October 12, 2002 bombings on two bars killed 202 people, mostly
Western tourists, were blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the
Al-Qaeda-linked Southeast Asian terrorist network.

The atrocity claimed the lives of people from 22 countries. Australia,
which for years saw Bali as its backyard playground, lost the largest
number of victims, with 88.

At midnight (1600 GMT Wednesday), the 12-kilometre (seven-mile) length
of cloth began to be laid out by a group of ordinary Balinese at
Jimbaran beach from one of the three cafes hit by another attack in
October 2005.

The triple suicide bombing last year in Bali, also blamed on key JI
members, killed 20 innocent bystanders.

The cloth was unrolled along the road to the front of the
international airport and then to a memorial to the victims of the
2002 attacks in the busy tourist district of Kuta.

"The cloth has been placed on the road so that anyone can step on it.
It is a symbol of our willingness to forget the past while at the same
time recalling the tragedies that have hit this land," said Save
Dagun, one of the organisers.

"We should not cry over those who died. They are like pearls, like
martyrs who must push us towards peace," he said.

The ritual unleashed emotions among Bali residents. At the airport,
one man stopped his car to get out.

"Why should bombings be celebrated? I have lost a lot because of the
bombs," he told those laying down the one-metre (yard) wide cloth
before clambering back into his car and driving away.

It also sparked demands for the execution of the three key bombers who
are now on death row -- Amrozi, Ali Ghufron and Imam Samudra.

Wayan Arta, 32, and seven friends wrote on the cloth: "Please execute
Amrozi!" and "Execute Amrozi in Bali!" The trio were moved to Java for
security reasons.

Arta witnessed both the 2002 and 2005 attacks.

"I was in Cafe Ubung, next to Menega, with a couple of Norwegian
tourists when the bomb blew up at Menega. And this scar I got when the
blast took place at Paddy's in 2002," he said, gesturing to a blemish
on his neck.

In Kuta, the street near the memorial was completely covered with cloth.

Mark Parre, a bearded tourist from Western Australia, spent the night
here along with others.

"We sang songs from the sixties, seventies and eighties... Many people
came and sung with us," Parre said.

"Then some people came and began to put the white cloth on the ground
while we kept singing. I was touched by everything that happened. With
the white cloth, it's like a dream," he told AFP.

"It is beautiful how the Balinese people share their feelings with the
world, their feelings of sadness. It is beautiful that the people do
it, not the government. This touches my heart."

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Families quietly remember 2002 Bali bombings

JIMBARAN, Indonesia, October 12 (Reuters) - Families of Indonesian and
foreign victims marked the fourth anniversary on Thursday of deadly
bombings by Islamic militants on Bali with ceremonies and prayers.

Some 20 Australians and 50 Indonesians from families of the victims
participated in an Australian-sponsored, low-key memorial on the
resort island to remember their loved ones.

The bombings of two nightclubs in Kuta Beach on Oct. 12, 2002 killed
202 people, most of them Western tourists, and were blamed on the
Southeast Asia militant group Jemaah Islamiah.

Ministers from Australia, which lost 88 nationals in the tragedy, had
attended the past three high-profile annual commemorations.

But the Australian ambassador was the lone official representative
from Indonesia's neighbour at a tightly-guarded site a few miles away
from the bombsite at bustling Kuta beachstrip. Those at the early
morning ceremony at the Garuda Wisnu Kencana cultural park in
Jimbaran, where limestone hills loom over Bali's famed beaches, heard
a poetry reading and solemn speeches, and scattered flowers into a
pond.

"I remember everything about him. How can I forget him," said David
"Spike" Stewart, who lost his son Anthony after militants bombed
nightclubs in the Kuta entertainment area.

Alief, an 8-year-old Indonesian, said he misses his father Imawan
Sarjono, who was killed in the attacks.

"Now, no matter where I look for him, I find a grave every single day.
I long to see my daddy who went away," he said in a poem he read at
the ceremony.

Later on Thursday, Indonesian organisers planned to hold a peace march
and unfurl a 12-kilometre long white cloth symbolising serenity. Many
Balinese who practice Hinduism, the dominant faith on the island, are
expected to go their temples for personal prayers.

"We do not need to cry for the victims of the Bali bombings anymore,"
said Safe Dagun who is behind the long cloth plan. "They are martyrs.
They are pearls that are grounded in our hearts to fight evil in this
world and combat terrorism.

"We want serenity this year. No speeches," he told Jakarta-based Radio 
Elshinta.

Indonesia launched a massive crackdown after the bombings, including
the legal prosecution of some 300 people related to various terror
attacks and plots.

Three main actors behind the 2002 bombings are on death row awaiting
executions by firing squad.

Terrorism experts and state security agencies say Jemaah Islamiah had
links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

Ansyaad Mbai, the head of Indonesia's counter-terrorism desk, earlier
this week said Jakarta should not rest on its laurels because the
terrorism threat remained "real and present".

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Mourners gather on Indonesia's Bali island to mark 2002 bombing anniversary

By FIRDIA LISNAWATI
Associated Press Writer

BALI, Indonesia (AP) - Weeping mourners and foreign dignitaries
gathered on Indonesia's Bali island Thursday to mark the fourth
anniversary of attacks on two nightclubs that killed 202 people,
almost half of them Australian tourists.

An 8-year-old Indonesian boy who lost his father in the blasts read a
poem to around 150 people attending the early morning ceremony on a
hill overlooking the island's famous Jimbaran bay.

"Four years ago when I was four years old and my brother was three, I
was just a little boy, but my daddy went away," Alif said. "Now no
matter where I look for him I only find grief every single day. I long
to see my daddy who went away."

The blasts, blamed on the al-Qaida-linked regional terror group Jemaah
Islamiyah, thrust Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation,
onto the front lines of Washington's proclaimed war on terror.

The dead and injured came from more than 20 countries, with Australia
losing 88 people.

"We will not allow terrorists to spread disorder and dismay to drive
people, faiths and neighbors apart," Australian Ambassador to
Indonesia Bill Farmer said. "They will not succeed."

The hunt for those responsible will continue and authorities will
ensure "they are brought to justice," he said.

Three of the lead perpetrators have been convicted and are awaiting
execution, but several other suspects remain at large.

The services took place amid tight police security at airports,
seaports and beaches.

Indonesia has been hit by a series of attacks since the Oct. 12, 2002, 
bombings

The most recent was a triple suicide bombing in September 2005, also
on Bali, that killed 20 people at beachside restaurants.

Around 300 suspected militants have been rounded up in security sweeps
and around 200 have been tried and convicted.

In Sydney, Australia, around 300 people gathered for a memorial
service at the beachside suburb of Coogee.

"For the last four years, I've had to learn to cope with the reality
that the people I love most in the world aren't coming home from
Bali," said Ben Borgia, whose mother and 13-year-old sister were
killed in the blast.

"How can this happen to the people that we love? I could not and
cannot to this day fathom what happened."

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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