# Bali terrorist attack and Australian public opinion **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 17, 2002, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bali-terrorist-attack-and-australian-public-opinion/132735 "2002-10-17T21:42:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bali-terrorist-attack-and-australian-public-opinion/132735/1 "2002-10-17T21:42:35Z")
From the Washington Post [In Many Ways, Australia’s 9/11 Bali Attack Destroys Notion of Immunity From Terror](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37958-2002Oct17.html) Do Australians feel that the Bali attack was directed against them personally or that they got caught in the US vs al-Qa’ida crossfire? > [@](#): > > “This idea that you purchase immunity from terror by saying nothing about terror is not only morally bankrupt, but it is also inaccurate,” Howard said in Parliament this week. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bali-terrorist-attack-and-australian-public-opinion/132735/2 "2002-10-17T22:31:47Z")
Sorry, duplicate post - mods please kill this one. Dopers please direct any replies to other duplicate thread ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bali-terrorist-attack-and-australian-public-opinion/132735/3 "2002-10-17T22:38:01Z")
Sigh… Mods please ignore post about killing this thread as the hamsters ate the OP in the other one. Please respond to this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bali-terrorist-attack-and-australian-public-opinion/132735/4 "2002-10-17T23:02:37Z")
I don’t consider the Bali bombings to be specifically directed at Australians. I also am not convinced that it has anything to do with al-Qa’ida and the WTC terrorist attacks. Until further information comes to light, I’m inclined to think it’s much more likely to be an internal Indonesian issue, though I’m not convinced of this, either. There are so many possible reasons for the bombings, that I think to stand up and say that it’s an attack on Australians is not only jumping the gun a little in terms of factual information, but is laughably arrogant. I am reminded off the idiotic Australian press who were interviewing some terrorist spokespersons in Afghanistan (I think) and kept hounding him with leading questions until he said something that included Australia. It’s _not_ all about us, even though the media may perhaps wish to make it so. This is not to say that it isn’t connected in some way to the WTC attacks, I just don’t think there’s any information at this point to make that assumption. I’m keen to find out some facts, as opposed to knee-jerk assumptions. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bali-terrorist-attack-and-australian-public-opinion/132735/5 "2002-10-17T23:47:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Goo \* > \*\* I am reminded off the idiotic Australian press who were interviewing some terrorist spokespersons in Afghanistan (I think) and kept hounding him with leading questions until he said something that included Australia. It’s _not_ all about us, even though the media may perhaps wish to make it so. > \*\* It’s definitely true that our local media plays this game. Other than that, I tend to take a different view to **Goo**. Bearing in mind that at this stage, it’s still conjecture, I see this as an attack on the West, given the choice of target. Whether the attackers have a particular beef with Australia, I don’t know, and had there been another nightclub next door full of Americans which was or wasn’t targeted instead, we would have a better idea of the terrorists’ motives. Of course, there is also the possibility that the attacks were meant to destabilise the Indonesian government. It’s most likely, IMHO, a combination of the two. ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Barber\_s\_Underwear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/58f4c7/32.png) [@Tony\_Barber\_s\_Underwear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tony_Barber_s_Underwear)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bali-terrorist-attack-and-australian-public-opinion/132735/6 "2002-10-18T00:01:33Z")
As there were also bombings at the US and Phillipine consulates that night, I am also inclined to believe that this wasn’t an attack directed at Australia specifically, but part of a wider campaign aimed at destablising the region. Many of the Indonesian provinces are politically and religously unstable at the moment - this combined with the corrupt military and weak leadership has meant that separatist groups such as JI (Jemaah Islamiah) have been able to run terror operations without too much fear of crackdown. The scale of this operation is what indicates an international link - whether that be Al Qaida or whoever. Andrew MacIntyre, a columnist in the Australian , and the director of the Asia-Pacific School of Economics and Management at the ANU stated: > [@](#): > > The familar pattern for bomb blasts in Indonesia - Jakarta alone has experienced 20 in the past two years - has been for clumsy operations, with limited casualties, many who do not appear to have been primary targets. But this was no small explosion killing chauffeurs, janitors or childrenwho happened to be standing by. This was a larger operation, calculated to cause major loss of life among foreigners. This is largely why an international terrorist link is highly probable. - Bubba. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bali-terrorist-attack-and-australian-public-opinion/132735/7 "2002-10-18T09:49:27Z")
Non-Aussie just putting in a couple of cents worth here. New Zealanders were killed too, and other nationals. I feel this was a general attack made against Westerners, to destabilise the already precarious Indonesian state. That it comes in the atmosphere of post September 11 could very well be superfluous to the real root cause, should it ever come to light. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bali-terrorist-attack-and-australian-public-opinion/132735/8 "2002-10-18T15:09:01Z")
I think the general consensus if Australians is that the attack was an attack on the amorphous entity known as “the west” which just happened to be mainly Australians based on the proximity fo Indonesia to Australia. There is also a theory that the reprisal was specifically for Australians due to the copious Ass sucking that John Howard has been performing on GWB. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bali-terrorist-attack-and-australian-public-opinion/132735/9 "2002-10-18T22:02:35Z")
An American adding his two cents… As far as this being a generic attack on “the West”, I believe all the press have reported that the Sari Club was known as, and was famous for, being a favorite \*\* Australian \*\* hangout. I even went and Googled “Sari Club Bali” shortly after the bombing, and every post on the internet (even the posts in German) made great claim to the fact the club was an Australian favorite. Whatever spineless bastards did it, they most likely were aware of that fact. It would be nice to be able to say it had nothing to do with a specific nationalitly, but I am afraid the facts seem to suggest differently. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bali-terrorist-attack-and-australian-public-opinion/132735/10 "2002-10-19T00:20:15Z")
My gut feeling is that it is, as **Shalmanese** put so eloquently (😃 ), that Little Johnny’s ‘arse sucking’ to GWB over the Iraq issue may have warranted reprisals. Bali is so notoriously ‘Australian’, especially that particular stretch in Kuta, that it is hard for me to envisage any less sinister motivation. Of course, when I am taken with fits of paranoia, I can imagine all sorts of evil scenarios that do not include Al Quaeda involvement. Somehow though, for me at least, it is better to focus my anger at ONE culprit rather than having to face the reality that it really could have been anyone who planted those bombs…better the devil you (sort of) know etc. The tragedy has certainly woken us up to our vulnerability, whoever was responsible, and this may not be a bad thing in today’s international climate. So that is this particular Aussie’s opinion…but of course, I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![BalmainBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@BalmainBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BalmainBoy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bali-terrorist-attack-and-australian-public-opinion/132735/11 "2002-10-20T12:59:13Z")
While agreeing, in general, with the above, remember: Bali is the home base of the Ugly Aussie Tourist, the beer-swilling, surfie culture, rooting-your-way-around-the-world species. If I was a moslem asthete, trying to live a spiritual life in my own humble way, seeing this never-ending stream of foreigners with all the money, none of the morals and groping my womenfolk whenever they could would be deeply offensive to me. If I was educated in an al-Queida-type bombthrowing school, I might do something about it. ---
**Author:** ![Ell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@Ell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ell)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bali-terrorist-attack-and-australian-public-opinion/132735/12 "2002-10-20T13:08:14Z")
Except, **BalmainBoy** , that Bali is 95% Balinese Hindu. ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bali-terrorist-attack-and-australian-public-opinion/132735/13 "2002-10-21T05:41:46Z")
When Diana died, our media chose to broadcast Michael Hutchence’s funeral a few weeks later because Diana’s death was such a ratings magnet. This weekend, one of the major Sydney newspapers published a “special edition” labelled 12/10. They even gave away a “free” flag in one of our dailies the other day. Disgust, contempt, let me count the words which I would like to apply to the “fourth estate” right now. We do not need newspapers publishing flag posters to remind us that we are Australian, and we sure as shit to not need the international media presenting a biased viewpoint of this incident. How do any one of us turn around and say to the people who risked their lives to evacuate those burn victims - “sorry, it was too late and they didn’t get enough primary care”. The infections, the amputations, are devastating. So I am not going to wave the flag. I’m not going to sit here and proclaim our government heroic. I’m really proud of what they offered; I’m also hideously assumed that it wasn’t offered sooner.