Relatives of bomb victims arrive in Bali for memorial<\/p>\n
I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali<\/p>\n
Over 1,200 relatives of the Bali bombing victims have arrived in
\nBali to participate in the ceremony commemorating the tragedy
\nslated to be held on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n
"We believe the number will increase because the ceremony is
\nstill a day away," chairman of the commemoration committee
\nBagiana Karang said on Friday.<\/p>\n
He revealed that out of that figure, 700 were from Australia,
\n136 from New Zealand, 66 from Britain, 16 from Japan, 14 from
\nGermany, six from Sweden, five from Canada, four from Denmark and
\nthe remaining 261 from host country Indonesia.<\/p>\n
"They have registered here and we have issued a special
\nidentity card to each of them," Karang said.<\/p>\n
With the ID cards the relatives of those killed in the Oct. 12
\nBali bombings will be able to enter the ceremony location on Jl.
\nLegian, Kuta, unhampered.<\/p>\n
The street will be closed to motorists for 24 hours starting
\nat 6 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 12.<\/p>\n
However, the victims' relatives will be allowed to drive along
\nthe road and park their vehicles in two designated parking places
\nnorth and south of the location of the ceremony, Karang said.<\/p>\n
He urged locals not to flock to the venue so as to maintain
\nthe solemn atmosphere of the commemoration and to provide as much
\nspace as possible to the victims' relatives.<\/p>\n
"Priority will be given to the relatives and to those who want
\nto pray at the site. Those who want to come only to watch the
\nevent are advised to stay home instead," he stated.<\/p>\n
The ceremony will take place at the new commemoration
\nmonument, which stands on the site of the old Sari Club, where
\nthe most powerful of the three bombs exploded, killing at least
\n202 people and injuring 300 others, mostly foreigners.<\/p>\n
Australian Prime Minister John Howard, along with scores of
\nhigh-ranking officials, is slated to attend the ceremony.<\/p>\n
In anticipation of the ceremony and Howard's visit, there will
\nbe tight security involving more than 2,000 Bali Police officers.
\nSome 500 officers will be deployed in and around the site of the
\nceremony. Sixteen officers from the Presidential Security Detail
\n(Paspampres) will also be present to guard the ceremony.<\/p>\n
Moreover, the traditional villages of Kuta, Seminyak, Legian
\nand the Denpasar Council of Customary Villages have also readied
\ntheir traditional Pecalang security guards.<\/p>\n
"At least 500 Pecalang will be assigned to secure the area
\naround the monument," said Karang.<\/p>\n
Howard is expected to arrive in Bali at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Later in the evening Howard will bestow honorary Order of
\nAustralia awards on Indonesian National Police chief Gen. Da'i
\nBachtiar, chief of the Bali bombing inquiry team Insp. Gen. Made
\nMangku Pastika and the inquiry team's chief investigator Brig.
\nGen. Gorries Mere in a ceremony at Sheraton Lagoon, Nusa Dua.<\/p>\n
The officers played significant roles in the Bali attack
\ninvestigation that led to the arrests of 33 perpetrators of the
\nbombings, of which three have been sentenced to death and the
\nremainder given heavy prison terms.<\/p>\n
On Sunday morning, Howard will visit the monument to lay a
\nwreath and lead a moment of silence in remembrance of 88
\nAustralians who perished in the cowardly terrorist attack.<\/p>\n
Bali photo exhibition called off after protests<\/p>\n
A photo exhibition on the Bali bombings featuring 70 works by 14
\nphotojournalists was called off at the last minute on Friday
\nafternoon after a series of incidents involving distressed
\nrelatives of the victims.<\/p>\n
The exhibition was slated to be held from Oct. 10 through Oct.
\n17 at the new Paddy's Pub. The original Paddy's Pub was destroyed
\nin the bloody 2002 terrorist attack in which at least 202 people
\nwere killed, mostly foreigners.<\/p>\n
However, on Thursday night, a number of relatives of the bomb
\nvictims, apparently overwhelmed by grief and anger, became upset
\nand took down four of the photographs from the wall.<\/p>\n
One of them threw a picture onto the floor. Three of the
\nphotographs depicted those convicted for the bombings while one
\nshowed body bags.<\/p>\n
"This morning, another relative of a victim took the
\nphotograph of convicted bomber Amrozi bin Nurhasyim and ran away
\nwith it, forcing the pub's security guards to chase after him to
\nretrieve the picture," photojournalist Lukman S.B. said.<\/p>\n
The participating photojournalists, saying they did not want
\nto burden the Pub's security staff with unnecessary problems,
\neventually decided to cancel the exhibition and take down all the
\nphotographs.<\/p>\n
"Actually the Australian Consulate's people insisted that we
\ncontinue the exhibition and they said they would select what
\nphotographs could be displayed. Of course, we rejected the
\noffer," a photojournalist said.<\/p>\n
Veteran photojournalist Joko Sugianto, who organized the
\nevent, said the participants had carefully selected the works to
\nbe displayed so as not to offend the victims' families.<\/p>",
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