Nine years after the 2002 Bali bombings, victims and the relatives of those slain in the terrorist attack say they still feel pain and anguish
ine years after the 2002 Bali bombings, victims and the relatives of those slain in the terrorist attack say they still feel pain and anguish.
One survivor, Sri Budi Rahayu, said she was in Paddy’s Club in Legian, Kuta, when the bomb exploded.
The blast and ensuing fire left her with severe burns that have not completely healed, despite four major operations in Australia funded by humanitarian organizations.
“I still have difficulties in moving my arm,” Rahayu said.
The woman held back tears as she joined dozens of survivors, relatives and tourists in a ceremony at the Bali Bombing monument in Legian on Wednesday evening.
Traditional Balinese offerings of flowers and fruit were placed by the memorial, while the participants lit candles and prayed for those killed in the attack.
A message was printed on a picture of a young girl left next to the monument. “Angela would have been celebrating her 21st birthday today, if she had not been murdered by terrorist. Angela had a future where the sky was the limit.”
Two-hundred-two people, mostly foreign tourists, were killed on Oct. 12, 2002, when suicide bombers detonated bomb vests and a car bomb in Paddy’s Club and the Sari Club, two popular Legian nightclubs.
Haji Agus Bambang Priyanto, who led a heroic effort to assist the victims in the minutes after the bombs exploded, said the government should pay more attention to victims’ families.
Agus is currently an advisor for ISANA Dewata, an association comprised of family members of 80 of the bomb’s victims.
“There are scholarship programs for the victims’ children and financial assistance for the widows and widowers to start businesses, mostly provided by NGOs.”
“However, there has yet to be medical assistance for survivors who still need medical treatment,” he said.
A similar ceremony was held at the Australian consulate in Renon, Denpasar, on Wednesday morning.
Police officers sealed off the street in front of the consulate compound throughout the ceremony.
The event was attended by Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Greg Moriarty and several senior officials of the Bali administration, including I Gusti Made Sunendra, an assistant to Bali’s governor; and Badung Deputy Regent I Ketut Sudikerta.
Moriarty said that the bombing would be remembered as a dark chapter in the history of the world as well as in people’s minds.
“That night continues to resonate in our collective memory,” Moriarty said.
He expressed his sympathy for Indonesia in the aftermath of recent terrorist attacks, saying he was convinced that terrorism would fail to dominate the country.
The 2002 attack brought Indonesia and Australia closer, especially on the issue of counter terrorism, Moriarty said.
“Indonesia, Australia, and many other countries’ representatives here today have law enforcement agencies that continue to work closely together to fight terrorism,” he said.
Moriarty praised the Indonesian government and the Bali administration for improving security after the bombing.
Sunendra said the pain of the bombings would be impossible to forget.
He said he was convinced that the Bali administration and the Balinese people were committed to preventing similar acts of terrorism from taking place in the future.
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