DENPASAR, Bali - In anticipation of my annual October 12 Bali bombing
anniversary column, I talked to Gede Nurjaya, head of the Bali Government
Tourism Office a couple of weeks ago. July international arrivals to the island
had set an all-time high and the August figures pushed the total for the year
above a million, on pace for a new record. "We don't think about that bomb
anymore," Wijaya said. "All of us have forgotten it."
The proverb says those who forget history are destined to repeat it.
When I heard the initial report on Saturday night, a phone call from a
neighbor, I thought it had to be a mistake, an exaggeration. Everyone assumed
that the 2002 tragedy in which 202 people
died in terrorist bombings had immunized Bali from future attacks, and signs of
collective amnesia abounded.
But there was no mistake. The death toll from Saturday's night's three bombings
in two popular tourist resorts was set on Sunday at 32, with more than 100
injured. More fatalities are expected.
At least half of the island's 4 million rely on tourism for their living.
Recovery from single-digit occupancy and double-digit unemployment noticeably
kicked in at the Christmas-New Year holiday 2003, 14 months after the
explosions at a pair of Kuta nightspots. By the start of this year's European
holiday high season, Bali's previous prosperity tinged with arrogance had
reemerged.
A government minister from a neighboring country visiting the island for a
regional conference got the "my way or the highway" treatment from a five-star
hotel general manager, who assured the minister's aide that plenty of other
people were ready to book the US$500 a night suite without looking for special
favors.
Buy signs flow
International developers such as Novotel, Swiss-BelHotel and Royal joined the
parade of Indonesians and expatriates building villas. One real estate shark
had an e-mail out to his prospect list within 18 hours of the blasts, reminding
them of the stock market adage that the time to buy is "when there's blood in
the streets".
Reminiscent of the woman in Woody Allen's Manhattan who whines, "I
finally had an orgasm and my doctor said it was the wrong kind," some in Bali
tourism complained about having the wrong guests amid soaring arrivals and
hotel occupancy rates. Tourists from Asia and Australia, who dominated
post-bomb arrivals, don't spend as much or stay as long as those from Europe
and America who have been slower to return to Bali. Given initial expectations
that it would take a decade or more for tourists to return, these gripes go
beyond seeing the glass half empty rather than half full. They're more like a
thirsty man in the desert getting a water hose and complaining that it's not
spouting Evian.
For all that changed in Bali since the 2002 bombing and the dark days that
followed, not enough has changed in Indonesia to ensure Saturday's bombs will
be the last ones.
New Order, old tricks
The New Order loyalists who gave rise to the wave of religious violence that
began in 1999 during Abdurrahman Wahid's presidency still lurk in and around
the corridors of power. (See
Terrorism links in Indonesia point to military,
October 8, 2004) The brazen murder of human rights activist Munir during a
flight to Amsterdam a year ago billboarded their lingering clout. (See
Arresting decay in Indonesia, July 7) But
the almost comic insistence of prosecutors to ignore evidence and testimony of
a conspiracy involving intelligence agency officials indicates that these
darksiders have little to fear from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's
regime.
Like the first Bali bombings, the October 1 blasts illustrate how hard it is to
put passions back in the bottle once they're unleashed. At the moment, there's
a lot of passion in the air. The Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins this week,
along with the Balinese celebrations of Galungan and Kuningan. In recent
months, hardline Muslims have denounced tolerance and pluralism, threatening
Christian congregations and even attacking Islamic sects they don't condone,
daring authorities to stop them.
Despite claims that the overwhelming majority of Indonesian Muslims are
tolerant moderates, the government keeps kowtowing to extremists and showing a
cowardly lack of interest in enforcing the constitutional guarantee of
religious freedom.
(Memo to Western governments: the Marriott Jakarta, Australian Embassy and now
the Bali II bombings have all taken place with your public enemy number one,
radical preacher Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, in jail. See
Ba'asyir trial: wrong war, wrong time,
November 3, 2004.)
Fueling passions
It's not just religious passions bubbling at the moment. Indonesia's government
raised prices for fuel on October 1. Since 1998, fuel price hikes have
triggered massive demonstrations (see
Mega price hikes fuel Indonesia's discontent,
January 15, 2003), and some media last week all but scolded the public's
measured response this time.
Although the government announced that the hikes - to lessen the budget burden
of subsidies as oil prices rise - were coming two weeks ago, it wasn't until
minutes before midnight on September 30 that it revealed the new prices.
Premium gasoline rose 87.5% to about US$0.45 a liter, or about $1.70 a gallon.
Kerosene, the main cooking fuel for the urban poor, rose 185.7%.
The message here is one that's come through loud and clear and repeatedly in
the seven-plus years since the fall of Suharto: politicians don't care about
the people, especially the poor and the powerless. Public service in nominally
democratic Indonesia doesn't carry an obligation to help society but an
invitation to help yourself. As long as people continue to see evidence of that
so graphically, through rampant, blatant corruption as well as arrogant public
policy, they'll brush aside concepts of fair play and defy the law when it
suits their ends, based on the example set by the powerful.
These Bali bombs weren't as big or as devastating as the 2002 blasts. You can
see that as progress, or you can see it as evidence that it doesn't take a
massive operation or complex logistics to plan and execute an attack that can
have a devastating impact on people and business.
Until Indonesia changes, it's likely that it will remain a target for
terrorists, something the Balinese and their fellow citizens should never
forget.
Gary LaMoshi has worked as a broadcast producer and print writer and
editor in the US and Asia. Longtime editor of investor rights advocate
eRaider.com, he's also a contributor to Slate and Salon.com.
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