This post is coming live and direct from Jl. Pantai Kuta Bali. This cafe is about 200 meters from the site of the Saturday night bombing at Raja’s Cafe. There were 3 bombs that hit Bali tonight, 2 in Jimbaran and 1 in Kuta at Raja's restaurant in Kuta Square.
I met a friend, Andy Walker, today at the airport and said 'Welcome to Bali'. After some Indonesian food and chatting with Ika, we went to JP's Warung on Jl. Dhyana Pura in Seminyak for some microbrew beers. After about 30 minutes a young Italian guy ran in and started shouting about a bomb in Jimbaran. He said it sounded like a wave crashing. Andy and I continued chatting and I started getting sms’s from people, realizing there was a problem.
Walking back to my house I had a eerie 'something is going on' feeling and the Balinese guys in my alley told me there were 6 bombs, scattered from Nusa Dua, the Four Seasons Jimbaran, to Kuta. Arriving at home I woke a peaceful Ika sleeping with Jevon and told her the news. A smart person would stay in the house, but I decidecd to explore, and rode my bike down to Kuta.
At the bottom of the loop on Jl. Legian the cops had the street blocked off. It seemed as though everyone in Bali wanted to see the bombing and the street was full of people. Iwalked to the beach via Jl. Benesari and then down to Kuta Square. I had heard Hard Rock Hotel was hit, a logical choice for me, but actually it wasn't. Still people were out partying, drinking and having a good time, although the locals were sitting at the side of the road checking theri cell phones.
At Kuta Square I peered over the police tape to see an ambulance and some glass. The Raja's sign was still intact, giving me the impression the blast had been small. Its amazing how global media is right now. While i was walking down Pantai Kuta my brother Chris called me from England to tell me exactly where the bombs went off. I headed straight there.
Well its 11.16pm now and I am going to look for a bar with Premiership football. Please tell Andy Walker's wife he's okay.
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‘Understanding the Madness’
From my knowledge and that of many right thinking moderate Muslim friends, matyrs of the same following are promised, guaranteed much, much greater rewards in another paradise.
Get this: 20 big eyed virgins await each matyr in heaven. This is what is being taught in the name of extreme Jihad 101. Whilst we’d rather lecture/ bore 500 engineering students to bits on a daily basis, one scenario regularly crops up in the back of our 21st century minds.
Arriving at heaven’s gate with a headless body blown to kingdome come, pun intended, it aint gonna be much fun frolicking with those virgins, isnt it?
“20 big eyed virgins await each matyr in heaven.”
Wow, I never thought that one would need sex after death. These idiots are willing to die so that they can sleep with 20 virgins after death? What kind of f&cked-up belief is that? I wonder if it is in the Qoran. Can anyone confirm that?
Clamp down on extremism, or pay the consequences.
A view from Jakarta, Indonesia:
http://indcoup.blogspot.com/
To be fair and having never read the Quran in its entirety, the promise of 20 virgins in heaven is the sort of teaching that can only be conjoured up when one has a permanent vacation in a cold dark vermin infested Afgan cave. The very thought of strolling on a warm Balinese beach with a loved one on a well deserved break is their version of infidel hell.
The minds of the 3 bombers were already ‘lost’ when they detonated.
Bennet… i think we (Indonesian gov and people) need to fight both, terrorism and drugs, and cannot just pick one, no matter how difficult it is.
Please support us… thank u!
Both are worth fighting, drugs are a con to the brain where users don’t even know they are social and cultural cheats no different to sports cheats and really do destroy many lives. Terrorists use religion to con young impressionable believers to do there cowardly acts, cheating these people of their lives. The Indonesian government has decided not to treat both harshly, why they are not is a cause of concern, it really does send the wrong message. Why are they ignoring this obvious discrepancy, it is wrong and if they don’t correct it, this will say a lot about where their ideology truly lies! If you really need to treat drugs as harshly as you do, why not terrorists? Please if you want to stop terrorism, all parties involved right down the line should face equivalent sentencing to what those face in the drug trade in your country. Why wouldn’t you? Two’X’ tablets - 10 to 15 years jail, surely any one supplying even the screws to a bomb deserves the same?
Lets get real, people. I live in SE Asia. Been all over the shop, provinces and all. Tackling lofty and politically correct evils like terrorism and drugs should be undertaken way after smaller, mundane, daily irritations like greasing traffic cops are eradicated.
Paying for stopping ‘too long’ at a stop sign is illogical to any right minded human who actually passed and holds a valid driving licence (non Indonesian, of course) Aspiring cops take out huge loans to pay ’someone’ and get into the force. Some money goes to the photocopy shop where limited numbers of application forms have to be bought from ’someones’ relative. Cop spends the next few years ‘taxing’ all and sundry to repay his loan. Everything that happens or does not revolves around one word. Its not resolve, duty, responsibility. Its ‘MONEY’. Who gets what and how much. Drugs = lots of money. Terrorism, not as much but they’re definitely working on milking it.
Hey Suzanne,
I’m a friend of Lee’s from California, just saw him here 3 weeks ago. I rec’d an e-mail from Joko saying he had been transferred to a hospital in Singapore and his parents were flying in to see him. Joko wrote that he was fighting to hold on ’til they arrived so this doesn’t sound good.
Hope for the best,
Brad
Hi Nick,
Thanks for your account of the tragedy. I live and study in India and have had opportunities to visit Srinagar, Sri Lanka, and even Bali, some time just an year ago. The reason of my choosing these names are obvious … i see how much mindless violence has taken its toll in beautiful idyllic places! But again, i suppose these are not “mindless” acts but part of a careful and prolonged plan to cripple the economy of these places. Funnily enough, the people of these places are the most soft-spoken, easy-going lot, perhaps resigned to the goings-on.
The thing about Bomb blasts are that long after they happen, lives of many are shattered, especially the poor, with the trickling tourism livelihoods drying up. It is indeed sad to read your report, and so excruciating to even imagine that Bali should go the way the other cities I mentioned have gone! I have faith in people; for them I pray not - just my best wishes. My prayer is that Bali may have a different, peaceful future!!
Cheers
Shon
hey suzanne and brad! please keep me/us informed about lee! we travelled with him for a week in china and are shocked to hear about this news. actually we had planned to visit him two months ago - but didn’t work out.
a candle is burning for him and he’s in our prayers…
jenn
Jennie,
About Lee Turner, conflicting reports. I e-mailed his job and they say he wasn’t in Bali and he’s e-mailed them since. So, I’ve e-mailed Lee and am waiting.
Brad
brad,
wow, that would be VERY GOOD NEWS… hope it’s true that lee wasn’t in bali at the time! but who is this joko then? please let us know the latest news!
brad and jenn,
I’ve been in touch with the US consulate office in Bali and they have no information that any american citizens had been transferred to singapore. She asked how I had received this information, so I shared with her how we have been informed and updated. I’ll keep you posted. Do either of you have any of his family’s contact info here in the states? I used to have their info, but not anymore, but I’d like to get some answers here and would just assume pick up the phone and call or email them directly.
thanks, suzanne
dear suzanne,
no, i don’t have his family contact info. i think his family lives in seattle. but not sure…
thanks for keeping us up to date!
jennifer
Jennie,
Suzanne has received another note from Lee’s work that he’s OK…was in Hong Kong. She talked to his brother who was oblivious to the whole thing.
Strange?
Brad
brad,
thanks for the good news. just hope that this time the news is true and that all is well!
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