One year after the bomb
First there was the horror itself, which on 12 October 2002 exploded
over what many people thought was the least likely place on earth
for anything horrible to occur. Bali—the Island of Gods—was
supposed to be a place somehow removed from the harsh realities
of the rest of the world.
This silly idea was replaced by another silly idea, much touted
in the Western press, that Bali had ‘lost its innocence’—whereas
in fact what Bali had lost was its livelihood.
The tourism industry evaporated overnight.
Then there were the rumors that Bali would collapse into inter-ethnic
violence. This wasn’t exactly right either.
Immediately after the bomb, people of Bali—a mixed population
of indigenous Balinese, foreigners, and non-Balinese Indonesians—flocked
to hottest, messist centers of the catastrophe to help however
they could.
Local leaders, in a surprising display of unity and restraint,
quashed any thought of retalitory action on the part of their
civil militias. (Later, and discreetly, signs of political jostling
began to show up in rural towns: wishfully exhorbitant fees were
imposed on anyone from anywhere else, even in Bali, who wanted
to work there.
But even this silly idea was soon clipped back into a less outrageous
set of protocols.) ...
quoted from Latidudes
Magazine by Bodrek Arsana
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