Of the 180+ confirmed dead, 27 bodies have been identified, 8 of them are Australian. If this ratio keeps up…
The Foreign Office in the UK is advising against all travel to Bali at the moment.
There was a report in The West Australian newspaper on-line about victims and relatives gathering in the Bounty hotel in Kuta.
I’ve got drunk in the Bounty hotel, and walked down Legian,past the Sari Club, many times en route from other places in the world on my way home to Perth. Jalan Legian is lined with nightclubs and bars, and filled with surfers. Kuta is a fun, if somewhat seedy place. I guess its what Americans would think of Tijuana, perhaps, to put it in perspective for North Americans, but near surf. I’m originally from Perth. Bali is closer to Perth to fly than the Australian eastern seaboard, and so lots of Western Australians fly there. Its great for a mundane overseas holiday. My only complaint was that everytime I go there I get eye infections from the local water.
Perth is a small city, and I hope no one I know was caught in the blasts.
Australia was always a bit out of the way, safe from the world’s troubles. To think that something like this could happen to Australians massed abroad, relaxed, partying and having fun, is astonishing and horrifying.
Of course its not just Australians - there are tourists from all over the world there.
The worst thing is the reports of skin peeling from burns, people with limbs blown off, torn to pieces by glass, a morgue filled with half-charred bodies… I doubt anyone I know will be going to Bali in a hurry. When there was violence in neighbouring island of Lombok, it took more than a year for the local tourist economy to recover. One of my best friend’s sister is involved in starting up a new airline which flies to Bali called Air Paradise. Apparently it had been doing well…
The Sydney Morning Herald reports condemnation of the attacks and sympathy for the victims from the governments of the US, France, Malaysia, the EU, Great Britain, Pakistan, India, Germany and South Africa.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/10/14/1034222690517.html
This is sad. So sad.
I spent a couple of months in Bali a while back and it is absolutely my most favorite place on earth. Such beautiful people.
Such a sad loss.
Kevin
This makes absolutely no sense at all. I don’t get it. Not that terrorism itself has a whole lot to be said for it. But this was just plain stupid, as well as evil.
Indonesia, I understand, has been something of a haven for Muslim loonies, at least partly because they have considerable sympathy amongst the Indonesian population. But this is shitting in thier own nest! Further, they could count on some anti-American sentiment (which seems to be horrendously pervasive) as long as they were just targeting Americans. But who the hell is pissed at Australia?
Nuts. Just plain nuts.
“Who the hell is pissed at Australia?”
Well, our PM, John Howard is one of the very few to back GWB’s push to invade Iraq despite the lack of UN approval, (and also I suggest, any sort of mandate by Australian voters…a demo in Melbourne yesterday turned out 10.000 marchers to protest our leaders statements/any involvement with an invasion of Iraq).
Further, this COULD be seen as a direct attack on Australians…some witnesses have noted that the people in the Sari Bar and Paddy’s were 70% Aussies, and the rest made up of other predominantly European visitors. Bali has always been viewed as THE holiday destination…it’s cheaper to take a vacation there than many Aussie resorts, and is generally chockers with (often loud, drunk and uncouth 
) Australians having a good time. Especially so at this time of year, when all the footy teams are having their ‘End of Season’ trips. If anyone wanted to give Australia a hiding, this would have been an ideal way to put the shits up us.
And despite the high death toll, there are still 220 Aussies unaccounted for. This is too close to home, both literally and metaphorically, for my bloody liking.
“chockers” I like that. As in “chock full?” Good in you, mutt.
187 confirmed dead, and roughly 200 more missing. This could bring the total number of deaths to nearly 400. Over 200 may be Australians.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/10/13/bali.blast.missing/index.html
From Daoloth’s link:
We’re in this together, once again. 
There is a bit of cold comfort in this, awful though it is. Our shared enemy is stupid. They have pissed off the Aussies for absolutely no gain whatsoever. Nothing.
Blitheringly stupid.
Of course, being Japan, not much is being covered, only the fact that there were some Japanese tourists there.
I hope that no-one had friends or relatives in Bali at the time.
Its almost as bad as if the bombing had occurred in Perth itself.
I’m actually kind of shaking as I type this. If it had happened in another month, there’s a good chance I would have been there. I reserved my tickets two weeks ago, and now I’m really not sure if I should still be going.
BTW, as far as who is responsible, the
BBC thinks it could be somehow related to East Timor, and Australia’s involvement there.
Best wishes and hopes to everyone. I hope nobody had friends or family there at the time.
Such a terrible terrorist attack. How is this being reported in Australia? I read a little about the horrible Muslim atrocities in East Timor, now with the Muslim terrorists targeting Australians and Westerners in Indonesia it looks like Australia has Lebanon right on top of them.
Isn’t there now a large Muslim population in Sydney? What’s the mood in OZ now?
Until there’s compelling evidence to the contrary, I’ll still call this one as a direct challenge to the Sukarnoputri regime - one in which Western tourists are merely “collateral damage”.
My heart weeps for the people of Indonesia - and the Balinese in particular - right now. It is they who will have to suffer the consequences of whatever political deals are cut in the coming weeks (and you can bet Australia will use our Foreign Aid muscle to cut a deal with Megawati and ultimately prop up her government).
It horrifies me how eager our media is to portray these events as in some way akin to those of September 11, 2001 or in some way connected to those events.
There are far more effective ways to “send a message to Australia” than to bomb a couple of nightclubs in Indonesia. By trying to establish tenuous connections between the bombings in Bali and the “War on Terror”, we overlook the fact that no people will endure more hardship as a result of this incident than the Indonesian people.
Unfortunately, Indonesia is pretty much stuck right now with the ineffectual government of Ms Sukarnopruti now being propped up by the West (so we are not seen to be bowing to the will of terrorists), or with the instability which will inevitably follow any attempted coup (which the West will do almost anything to thwart).
I forgot to add one important piece of information. The Red Cross was already calling for additional donations last week as it was running critically low on type A and type O blood.
We are now sending blood over to Bali and diverting what we can to Darwin and Adelaide.
If you’re a donor anywhere in Australia, or within our general region - PLEASE contact the Red Cross and ask if they need any additional donors. I rang head office in Sydney early this morning and they REALLY need any additional donations they can get.
I’m a type O-. Sadly, I live a bit too far away.
I will look into that. Thanks for the idea.
There was an interesting point raised on BBC World’s report this morning on this: Australia humiliated Indonesia by sending a large number of peace-keepers as part of the UN mission to East Timor. Many Indonesian nationalists who did not want the East Timorese to gain independence viewed the Australian troop presence as an affront to their sovereignty.
Another issue raised on the Sydney Morning Herald website - this was apparently the second anniversary of the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen.
More grim horrific stories of bloody carnage are coming out of Australian on-line newspapers. Absolutely ghastly.
I’ve never been a fan of our current Prime Minister but he’s right: Australians should not be cowed by this. Fuck 'em.
Australian Muslims have spoken out against the bombing, describing it as a “crime against God”.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/10/14/1034222727542.html
This is good. Its a valid criticism that more moderate Muslims are not more vociferous in their opposition towards extremists.
Thanks for the heads up guys on the ‘blood donation’ idea. I’m off to do it now.
Also, I understand that a year ago Dr Mahathir was inspired by 9/11 to really do a purposeful and effective crackdown on Islamic militants in Malaysia, but Indonesia did no such thing.
Does anyone have knowledge and/or opinions on this?
And yes… to the poster who mentioned earlier that we Australian’s might now have an idea how Americans felt a year ago - may I merely say (as an Aussie and a loyal ally) we were happy to stand by you a year ago America, and it’s lovely to know the feeling is being reciprocated now.
I think of Sting’s beautiful tune about Bali - namely “Fields of Gold” and I’m forced to ponder on how those fields now run with blood. So very sad.
Just a reference point for those in the Northern Hemisphere. There is no burns unit in Bali, and its major hospital has the capacity to accept 10 bodies in its mortuary.
The nearest tertiary care trauma centre to Indonesia is in Darwin, also doesn’t have the facilities or personnel to cope with this number of burns patients all at once - which is why personnel and equipment are being flown in from all over the country (Darwin is a LONG way from any other major city in Australia).
In addition, many of the patients arriving have had no burns specific treatment. The reports we are getting indicate that many are being triaged in the open air - the nearest location which can even begin to deal with their specific medical needs is Darwin (those well enough are now being transferred from Darwin to Adelaide), and that treatment is being started way beyond the optimum “window” to commence treatment for serious burns.
Far and away the majority of patients who have been medivaced to date have been Australian - a handful have been from other first world nations. Let’s please spare a thought for those who have little or no hope of being evacuated out to first world medical care and whose own health care system is quite unable to cope with the demands being placed on it at this time.