So today is the first day of the bombing trial in Denpasar, the capital of Bali. Here in Internet Outpost I talked to Ika, an employee and Nellie who is from East Timor and works as a translator for the UN.
Ika was at home today watching a television documentary on the bombing. She told me she felt sad. Nellie said she hopes the leader of the bombers Amrozi gets death as well as his friends. She lost 12 friends in the bombing…11 Aussies and 1 Portuguese. She was invited to go with them to the Sari Club on the night of the bombing and was inside. Her friends wanted cigarettes so she went out to the Circle K on Jl. Legian, where the cigarettes are cheaper. While in there she heard the first bomb at Paddy’s Irish Pub and thought it was a gas explosion as there is a Chinese restaurant behind with gas canisters. A few seconds later she heard the Sari Club bomb and everything was dark. She walked the 30 yards back to the Sari club to find her friends but Paddy’s and Sari were on fire. She saw people running covered in blood and the police came and told her to leave. She headed down Poppies II to the beach and tripped over something. There was no light but her cell phone had a glow so she used it to see what she had tripped on. It was a leg with a tattoo of a cross.
Next day she went to hospital in Denpasar to look for her friends. She didn’t find any but said the smell was very bad. She saw the bodies of 2 girls who had been dancing together. Their burned bodies locked together in a hug, one of them still clutching a small bottle of water.
Nellie is heading to Timor in a couple of days for work and will visit her American boyfreind in Japan later. She said Timor is expensive, $25 for a room and $3 for 15 minutes in the internet café ( there’s only 1 ). All the westerners there are UN staff and engineers on contract so prices are high. Nellie said Timorese are stupid and lazy and its not a good place to visit.
Ika’s mom has just come back from a trip to Jakarta and on her plane she talked to some ‘bules’ ( foreignors ). They told her they had been to the home town of Amrozi, the Bali bomber to check out his living conditions and learn about him. She thinks they are journalists getting ready for the trial.
Amrozi’s legal team are all from Java and used the word ‘muslim’ to describe themselves. Ika told me that Endah ( the one who has just met Don Juan, the greasy lover ) who is muslim, was upset that they used that word as it suggests the people of Bali and Java are at war, but its really not like that.
Apparently a lot of people in Amrozi’s neighborhood would like to see him released. Hopefully that is not going to happen, there is too much at stake for Indonesia internationally.
On the Endah subject a scary thing happened today. I came in to Internet Outpost and she’s wearing a baggy black shirt! Why not put up a sign and say ‘touchdown Don Juan’?
Waiting to hear from Rob from Australia. Hope he gets back from whatever surf adventure he’s on.
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{ 4 comments }
Nick, I shed many tears that Sunday morning when I turned on the TV to watch the early morning news and was confronted with the attrocity. I was moved by what I read of Nellie’s account. Before this whole trial is over, there will be many tears shed throughout the world.
I was listening to ABC Radio National this morning and there was a comment made from a member of Amrozzi’s new lawyer. Apparently he has found some ‘loophole’ that he intends to follow vigourously. Yaitu, since Amrozzi committed the acts of buying the chemicals and the van and then the subsequent bombing BEFORE the Indo Govt introduced the new Terrorist laws, then Amrozzi is not liable to prosecution under the aforementioned new laws.
If this is the case, then the maximum penalty he would receive would be 3 years in jail.
Barrie,
I know exactly how you felt that Sunday morning. My Husband & family are from Tuban. I spent 4.5 hours continually calling his home to find out if he was Ok, he does not go to either of those places, but could have been riding past on his bike anytime around then!
I also had very good Australian friends there, thank God none of them were harmed, “affected yes”, but not injured!!
When I finally heard his Mother’s voice on the end of the phone, as the lines were down, I thanked God I had finally gotten through & was ecstatic to speak to my Hubby too.
He had been home watching a DVD, when he heard the first explosion, he thought it was the young kid’s putting fire crackers in the electricity fuse box, so turned the movie off went outside to sit & talk to the family when he heard the second explosion, the family then became a little worried, the phone started ringing & it was friends in Kuta explaining that Sari & Paddy’s had been bombed. He spent the rest of the night taking calls from friends & in the Morning took his Mother, a Private Nurse in to Denpasar to the Hospital, he then went out to see his friends & make sure all were accounted for, then came home to call me, but I had been calling non stop for 4 hours already & was now totally beside myself that he was ok..
I will never forget that day & the few weeks following!
Mick, Thanks for the Tip on Nirwana if it is too loud I don’t want to stay there either!!
Not much to say here except sorrow for the pain of those who lost family and friends.
I think it’s healing to share stories, to reconstruct the events. And for those who are overloaded with that happening, well, they don’t have to subject themselves to this read.
We can move on and still remember.
Mary, agreed but, tears take a long time to dry.
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