Australian people relive their Bali nightmare

Australian people relive their Bali nightmare

Madeleine Coorey, Agence France-Presse/Sydney, Australia

The Bali blasts come as a chilling reminder for Australians of the 2002 attacks which killed 88 Australians at one of their favorite tourist destinations, but the government on Sunday insisted the country was not the target this time.

Prime Minister John Howard said that while he was horrified by the latest attacks, which have killed at least 26 people including an Australian teenager, he did not think they were specifically directed at Australia.

The bombs, which exploded near popular restaurants on Saturday evening, were designed to destabilize the country and destroy the tourism industry in the resort island of Bali, he said.

"I think we should see this as primarily an attempt to wreak havoc and cause fear and create instability inside Indonesia," Howard told the Nine Network.

"This is overwhelmingly an attack on democratic Indonesia. The Balinese economy was just recovering from the terrible attack of three years ago and Indonesia of course is now a fully fledged democracy.

"And I see this primarily as an attack on Indonesia and the democratic instincts of the Indonesian people."

The bombs come almost three years after the bombing of a Bali nightclub strip in which 202 people perished, 88 Australians among them.

In September 2004 a suicide bomber struck against the Australian embassy in Jakarta, killing 11 Indonesians and the bomber.

Howard said the latest attacks were an attempt to destroy Bali's tourism industry at a time when Australian holiday-makers had begun to return to the island famous for its affordable and laid-back beach vacations.

"That's part of a process -- if you weaken the Balinese economy, and the best way to do that is to frighten the tourists away, then you further weaken the infrastructure of the Indonesian economy," he said.

Officials have said 17 Australians were injured in the blasts while grave fears are held for a couple who have not yet been located.

The attacks occurred during the school holiday season in some parts of Australia and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said it was estimated that some 5,000 to 7,000 nationals were currently in Indonesia.

"There could be further bombs and people should be wary of that," he told Sky News, warning those Australians still in Indonesia to remain stay from crowded areas.

Howard said those responsible for the latest attacks were attempting to undermine Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who represents "a threat to Islamic extremism".

"He is the democratic, moderate face of Islam and he's somebody therefore who should be supported and helped, and the terrorists know that and they want to undermine him," he said.

Meanwhile, Howard assured Australian Muslims on Sunday that they should not be frightened in the wake of the latest Bali bombings as they were seen as friends, not enemies.

Howard, whose government has been accused of targeting Muslims in tough new counter-terrorism laws, said he wanted to reassure the nation's 300,000-strong Muslim minority that they should not feel alienated.

"We see them as friends, we don't see them as enemies," Howard said.

"We see them as here in the struggle, not as a group of people who should feel frightened and isolated and alienated.

"This is as much of an attack on the way of life that a majority of them hold dear as it is the way of life that I hold dear and you hold dear," he told reporters.

Howard last week announced tough new counter-terrorism laws, including detention without charge, curtailing suspects' movements and contacts, tighter checks on citizenship applicants and jail terms for inciting violence.

The move was denounced by several Muslim leaders, who said the laws targeted Muslims and could be used against people who simply spoke out against Australia's deployment of troops in Iraq.

Howard denied that Muslims were targeted, but said the laws were necessary in the wake of the London bombings in July by British-born Muslims.

"We are worried there are people in our country who might just do this," Howard said at the time.

Muslim leaders Sunday condemned the latest Bali attacks, but said they feared a backlash.

"We believe that any act of terror is an act of evil," Islamic Council of New South Wales chairman Ali Roude said.