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We are stronger and safer, 20 years after Bali bombings
We have risen out of tragedy to build a safer world, together.
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Bali bombing survivor Andrew Csabi, from Australia, lays flowers during a ceremony on Oct. 12, 2022 at the Australian consulate in Denpasar, Bali, to mark the 20th anniversary of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people. (AFP/Johannes P. Christo)
M
y late father and former president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid once said: God needs no defending, for He is the Almighty. The ones that needed defending were instead God’s creatures, and from the horrible acts of His other creatures.
This became more than evident 20 years ago, when we witnessed the cruelty of God’s creatures carried out in His name against one another, in the form of bombings that shook the island paradise of Bali, the second biggest such attack after 9/11, taking the lives of 202 innocent people, including 88 Australians.
Not only did the Oct. 12, 2002 tragedy cause human casualties, it also caused deep mental anguish among the immediate victims and their families, as well as to the nation and the world.
For many people, life was never the same after the Bali bombings: the economy suffered, the social fabric was threatened, our philosophy of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity) was questioned; our belief in the peaceful nature of religion was betrayed.
The teachings of Islam dictating that all life is sacred, which I had been taught all my life, were brutally maimed when a group of people plotted and exploded bombs in the popular tourist area of Kuta on that Saturday night.
Twenty years ago, people were killed and wounded: physically, mentally, socially, economically, nationally and globally.
But today, we gather here to show that we are standing once again.
