Australia holds memorial service for Bali victims
Australia holds memorial service for Bali victims
Agencies, Canberra
Australian leaders and tearful families of the Bali bombing
victims attended a national memorial service in parliament
Thursday for those killed and wounded in the Oct. 12 terrorist
attack.
"The deaths of so many Australians in such a cruel and
cowardly act has touched our nation," said the Anglican chaplain
to Australia's armed forces, Bishop Tom Frame, in opening the
ceremony,
As bagpipes played a mournful lament, friends and relatives of
many of the 94 Australians killed or missing and presumed dead in
the bombing lit candles in memory of their loved ones.
They were joined by Prime Minister John Howard, heads of
Australia's states and territories, religious leaders, military
brass and diplomats, including Indonesia's acting ambassador,
Imron Cotan.
One of the most heart-wrenching moments came when opposition
leader Simon Crean read letters written by two of the children at
the ceremony to their father when they still hoped he would be
found among the survivors in Bali.
"Get well, Dad, and hurry up so that we can go fishing. Bye,
Mathew. Get well," wrote Mathew Dobson, 11, to his missing dad
Andrew.
His 13-year-old sister Tasha wrote: "When you get the chance
could you please ring, because there are so many people, people
who don't even know you, that are really worried about you.
"Talk to you when I see you next. Big hugs and kisses, Tasha
Bear."
At the ceremony, Howard said the bombing by suspected
religious radicals had left Australia "consumed with a national
sense of grief and sadness and justifiable anger that in such a
brutal way so many lives, especially young ones, should have been
cut short."
He called the bombing, which targeted two night clubs packed
with foreign tourists, a "brutal reminder" that terrorism could
strike anywhere.
Following the ceremony, Howard met with state and federal
government leaders and agreed on a series of new measures to
fight terrorism.
Three mourners wore football jerseys to mark the loss of at
least a dozen young Australian Rules players who had gone to
neighboring Bali to celebrate the end of the season with their
teams.
In the public gallery above, discreet security officers in
somber suits and curly earpieces looked on, while tourists and
schoolchildren lamented Australia's loss of innocence.
"It has brought home the reality of terrorism -- that it has
come to our shores. September 11 was remote, distant, but this
has come home," teacher Honi Reifler said after the service.