Roughly this time last year, I was in London for several days with a friend, arriving 9-10 days after 9/11. We both remarked on the general feeling of consolation we encountered when local folks realized we were Americans. We appreciated it.

In the year since, it is my sense that the U.S.A., at least if interpreted by the acts of its somewhat-elected representatives, has done just about everything it can to squander whatever goodwill it might have otherwise continued to benefit from. By this I don't mean the retaliation against Al Quaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan, but rather the incredible ulilateral approach to treaties and security taken by the Cheney/Bush administration and its arrogant minions.

To a great extent, I feel like citizens in the country are going along. I feel like we're still pretty absorbed by a U.S.-centric point of view (Yes, A shattered nation longs to care about stupid bullshit again.). While I enjoyed reading and watching "Band of Brothers", I get nervous that perhaps we have taken away a sense that our troops will always be moral and our cause always just.

Anyhow, as I watched CNN from my sniper-proof hotel room earlier this week, and looked at the rows of sheet-covered bodies, then started to see the list of dead and missing on the Sydney Morning Herald's web pages, I wondered if we here in the U.S. had figured out what that meant.

Anyhow, I flunked Compassion and Consolation 101 in college, so I'm not sure that I'm qualified to do this, but I'll try:

Hello, Oz. How are you doing?

I feel like we're still pretty absorbed by a U.S.-centric point of view ... I wondered if we here in the U.S. had figured out what that meant

Shit.

Maybe I've got my head up my ass, but I hadn't heard about this at all. I'm not aware of any empeggers in Bali, but if there are any, I hope you're okay. In fact, even if you're not in Bali, or you are but you don't own an empeg, I still hope you're okay.

This really sucks.

Probably the reason why you've not heard/read about this much in the US recently, is that Bali is not that well known to most Americans as a tourist spot.

Bali has, for most Australians, been looked on by them for many years as their local version of "Hawaii". [Well maybe Hawaii before it became a state of the US].

Bali's place in the Australian psyche was accurately summed up well by the Australian Rock group "Redgum" in the late 70's or early 80's by their song "I've been to Bali too".

The bomb attack, has become a bit close to home and is to a lot of Australians, their equivalent of 9/11 - albeit nowhere near the same scale, but with 300 injured and 200 dead, many of the dead and injured Australians, puts it in perspective a little - when you consider Australia has a population of only 18 million or so.

I also spare thoughts for the Balinese (natives of Bali) - Bali's population is mostly made up of Hindu (i.e. not Muslims, unlike most of the rest of Indonesia). They were probably the second largest group of fatalities & injured in the Bali blast - both as workers in the bars attacked, and also as passers by on the streets outside when the bombs went off.

In fact, recent news stories have covered the situation for the Balinese victims of the bombing - for the most part all the Westerners have been flown out to hospitals in Singapore, Australia or even further afield by their respective governments, leaving the Balinese to cope with depleted medical resources and with the remaining victims (generally all Balinese) facing long and difficult paths to recovery.

While the medical supplies can be replaced (and are being/have been replaced by the Australian and New Zealand aid agencies), its the skilled medical resources in doctors, nurses and especially burn and trauma specialists that the Bali victims need in the medium to longer term to make the fullest recovery.

Linked to the human toll of the Bali bombing, is the economic toll - which is just beginning to surface.

The Balinese have spent 35 years building their economy on the back of "safe" tourism - the sort of reputation for safety that allows parents to feel comfortable enough to allow their 18-20 year old kids go there on their own for fun,sun and a "safe foreign experience" and thats why many of the killed or injured are of a similar age.

The Bali economy is now facing ruin, or at least, a serious economic set back - possibly for many years due to this event. And this is was probably also a parallel target of the bombers - to attack the economy of Bali, which up to now has been a jewel in the economic crown of Indonesia for 30+ years.

Now, no Australian parent in their right mind will let their kids go near Bali, or Indonesia now for many years to come.

There is also growing anger at the perceived lack of warnings from the Intelligence agencies around the world, in advance of the attack - as there now appears to be growing & credible evidence that some government intelligence agencies [e.g. UK and US intelligence agencies] were aware weeks in advance of potential threats in Indonesia - including Bali, and failed to make this public in time.

The Indonesian authorities are also coming in for some over due crtiticism for their lack of action on this whole issue to date. While the Indonesian Political leader [Megawati], has just passed anti-terrorism laws to allow them to crack down on terrorists - many Indonesians also remember that similar sorts of laws were abused continuously by the previous Suharto regime for over 30+ years until the late 1990's. As Indonesia has only just begun to get rid of the Suharto legacy it is somewhat understandable why they may have been reluctant to act on the obvious and growing threats of terrorism.

Only time will tell whether the Indonesians have to fear the terrorists or the [abuse of the] new anti-terror laws the most in the coming months and years.


It is indeed a difficult time for many peoples - not least those directly affected.

If any of our empeggers, their friends or families are affected by the Bali bombing, you have our sympathy and thoughts.

Thanks for your insights.

Probably the reason why you've not heard/read about this much in the US recently, is that Bali is not that well known to most Americans as a tourist spot.

True. (Some acquaintances of mine have been there and it was on my wish list, but your observation is probably right). I don't mean to say that the bombing wasn't receiving any attention in this country, but I could perceive it slipping intermittently beneath the tide of sniper coverage and Iraq thumping...

Bali has, for most Australians, been looked on by them for many years as their local version of "Hawaii". [Well maybe Hawaii before it became a state of the US].
The bomb attack, has become a bit close to home and is to a lot of Australians, their equivalent of 9/11 - albeit nowhere near the same scale, but with 300 injured and 200 dead, many of the dead and injured Australians, puts it in perspective a little - when you consider Australia has a population of only 18 million or so.

Yes, that is what struck me. Relative to the overall size of the respective populations, Bali sadly looks like it could be worse in terms of the proportion of families it touches.

I also spare thoughts for the Balinese (natives of Bali) - Bali's population is mostly made up of Hindu (i.e. not Muslims, unlike most of the rest of Indonesia). They were probably the second largest group of fatalities & injured in the Bali blast - both as workers in the bars attacked, and also as passers by on the streets outside when the bombs went off.

.....
The Bali economy is now facing ruin, or at least, a serious economic set back - possibly for many years due to this event. And this is was probably also a parallel target of the bombers - to attack the economy of Bali, which up to now has been a jewel in the economic crown of Indonesia for 30+ years.

My thoughts certainly went to Australia given the very deliberate targeting, but Bali will suffer the harder double blow. I hope, well, that there is hope, but it looks pretty bleak.

I guess what disturbs me most is that this is a sphere in which humorless radical murderers can continue to win on some level. What does it take to wreck a small country? Not much, I'm afraid.


There is also growing anger at the perceived lack of warnings from the Intelligence agencies around the world, in advance of the attack - as there now appears to be growing & credible evidence that some government intelligence agencies [e.g. UK and US intelligence agencies] were aware weeks in advance of potential threats in Indonesia - including Bali, and failed to make this public in time.

It looked like the U.S. State Department issued some sort of warning, but of the type that is almost routinely issued and ignored. News agencies say that intelligence is almost automatically shared b/w the U.S. and Australia, but I am not inclined to trust that assertion on face value given the Keystone-esque track record of some intelligence agencies recently.

[The Indonesian authorities are also coming in for some over due crtiticism for their lack of action on this whole issue to date. While the Indonesian Political leader [Megawati], has just passed anti-terrorism laws to allow them to crack down on terrorists - many Indonesians also remember that similar sorts of laws were abused continuously by the previous Suharto regime for over 30+ years until the late 1990's. As Indonesia has only just begun to get rid of the Suharto legacy it is somewhat understandable why they may have been reluctant to act on the obvious and growing threats of terrorism.

Only time will tell whether the Indonesians have to fear the terrorists or the [abuse of the] new anti-terror laws the most in the coming months and years.

It's a hell of a world, ain't it?

It is indeed a difficult time for many peoples - not least those directly affected.

If any of our empeggers, their friends or families are affected by the Bali bombing, you have our sympathy and thoughts.

Yes, indeed.

I was under the impression that Indonesia and Australia didn't get along very well. Weren't they on the brink of a conflict earlier this year (or was it last year)? I was surprised to hear about the number dead though (we have an office in Brisbane we work closely with).

I, too, am sorry about the attack. There was next to no media coverage of it (although I did hear a lot about just because of my line of work, etc), which is really sad.

In reply to:

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I was under the impression that Indonesia and Australia didn't get along very well. Weren't they on the brink of a conflict earlier this year (or was it last year)? I was surprised to hear about the number dead though (we have an office in Brisbane we work closely with).

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Indonesia and Australia, have not got along very well for some time. They've never threatened war or anything, but things get tense diplomatically on a semi-regular basis.

The basic problems until a few years ago were the issues of Human rights abuses by the then Suharto government.

When the Suharto regime was toppled in 1998 - partly due to the economic flow on from the 1997 Asian currency crisis.

Then the issue of Independance for East Timor set things on edge again.

East Timor was "completely trashed" by Indonesian sponsored/supported "terrorists" (so-called militias) immediately following East Timors resounding vote for independence from Indonesia in 1999 - the militias came form Indonesia into East Timor, they threatened all the East Timorise in the lead up the to referendum (with the (then) Indonesian police either actively enocuraging this intimidation, or turning a blind eye to it), and then when the independance vote was held and they voted yes for independance soemthing like 98% of the votes were "yes") , then the militias took umbrige and took what wasn't tied down, what was not moveable they burned/destroyed.

Even now New Zealand and Australia are in East Timor on peacekeeping duties - effectively policing the semi-porous land border between East Timor and the rest of Indonesia and will be for some years to come.

Indonesia basically has in the past, and still now, refuses to "police" its army properly, so they run riot all over the place and are a law unto themselves - this is a basic problem that indonesia needs to address sooner than later.

Then when East Timor was settling, down, there have been Australian and New Zealand peacekeepers killed by militias invading from Indonesia - which doesn't help things settle down.

Then in late 1999 early 2000 came the rise of the "people smuggling" - so called "refugees" who are smuggled across the sea from Indonesia by people smugglers, whose sole driving force is greed - they charge up to $10,000USD per person, they buy rundown old fishing boats, and then overload these ramshackle boats with passengers, then sail these into Australian territorial waters [takes a few days to steam from Indonesian territorial waters into International waters before they arrive in Australian waters], then the Indonesian "crew" would disable the engines and depart via a pick up boat in the night - having first disabled the boats engines, radio etc and they then leave the passengers at the mercy of the waves, the sharks, the weather. Maybe if the passengers are lucky, the Australian coast guard will intercept the boat before it falls apart - and the occupants can then apply for refugee status.
Im many cases the boats fall apart without anyone being around to rescue them.

More recently the people smugglers would leave the refugees on islands inside Australian territorial waters and then hastily depart back to Indonesia - leaving these people to be "rescued" - if they were lucky, but the Australian authorities.

Australia raised this issue with the Indonesian authorities - again and again - to no avail - would be refugees are in every southern port in Indonesia, waiting to hook up with people smugglers for what they hope will be a short boat trip and better life in Australia.

While the Indonesian police often know who the people smugglers are, they do not do anything about them - nor about the refugees - most are "legally" in the country on false passports from countries Indonesia requires no visas from.

In response to this, for some time now - the Australian government has a policy of mandatory detention in "prison camps" of all refugees - whether they arrive on planes or boats.
the conditions in these camps, is probably pretty bad, and the "refugees" are forced to spend many years in these camps until their case is decided - usually (something like 97% of cases) the decision is that the refugee is not a genuine refugee and the "refugee" is then deported back to wherever they came from - having wasted many years locked up in a "prison camp".

All of this was before September 11 2001.

then in August 2001, following the "Tampa" incident - in which a container ship (the Tampa) picked up in International waters 450+ (mostly Afghan) refugees from a people smuggling boat that was breaking up in International waters - the people were at risk of drowning. Australia refused to let the captain of the "Tampa" "land his catch" of these refugees anywhere in Australian waters/territories. There was a stand off in which the captain of the Tampa refused to leave until the Australians took the people - this went on for some time - about 40+ days as I recall, meanwhile Sept 11 happened.

The solution was to offload the refugees in international waters from the Tampa onto Australian troop carrying ships, then for these ships to travel to Papua New Guinea where the refugees where processed and sent to various countries within the Pacific while their cases where processed.
The whole point of not letting them near Australian waters was that they cannot apply for refugee status in Australia, as they are technically and legally not Australias responsibility if they never touch Australian waters/land.

Following this incident, the Australians changed their laws so that only the Australian "mainland" is considered sovereign territory for Immigration purposes - this means that refugees that make it to one of the many islands in Australian territorial waters cannot claim refugee status. I'm not sure what happens to them - I think Australia has camps setup on these islands as well.

Meanwhile Indonesia continues to wash its hands of the refugee problem - it seems that Indonesia believes it has no responsibility either for the refugees that are using it as a transit point to Australia. Even though most of the so-called refugees are from Muslim countries, and would probably fit into Indonesian society quite well as Indonesia is also mostly Muslim.

So, you can see why the latest incident [the Bali Bombing] has got the Australians pretty riled up. I don't think that Indonesia and Australia are going to best of mates anytime soon.

Thankyou number6. Such a complete political and historical report.
We had at least as much coverage of the bombing on the media as we did for S11. I feel sorry for the Balinese, being double hit like that, but I have no doubt that Bali will soon again be a holiday destination for Australians.

The most wretched thing I heard about it all (politically) was that our Prime Minister, John Howard, tried to equate the September 11 attacks in the US to the attack in Bali and say that Australia itself was under attack.


I can see that holidays are most likely to be kept within Australia.


Drought, Bushfires, International threat. It's gonna be a loooong summer.