Bali bombing takes heavy toll on SE Asia

Bali bombing takes heavy toll on SE Asia

Lawrence Bartlett, Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur

The political and economic fallout from the Bali bombing hangs
like a radioactive cloud over Southeast Asia, poisoning the
region long after the sound of the explosion has died away.

The immediate victims were the nearly 200 people, mostly young
Western tourists, blown up as they danced on a warm tropical
night on a paradise island renowned for its peace, surf and laid-
back style.

But the bombing is still taking a toll -- on regional economic
recovery, civil liberties, religious tolerance and relations with
the rest of the world.

The blast came on Oct. 12, exactly one year, one month and one
day after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, which
the United States said had changed the world.

While nobody would make a similar claim for the Bali bombing,
it remains the most deadly terrorist attack since those in the
U.S., and dragged Southeast Asia irrevocably into the global
terrorism war.

The main suspect in the massacre, the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI)
network of religious militants, has ties to the al-Qaeda
organization of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden, blamed for the
U.S. atrocity.

A self-confessed bomber under arrest in Indonesia, Amrozi --
dubbed "the grinning assassin" after his cheerful appearance at a
press conference -- told police he wanted to "kill as many
Americans as possible" because "America oppresses the Muslims".

Most of those killed in Padi's Bar and the Sari Club were in
fact Australians and Britons, but al-Qaeda sees them as
legitimate targets anyway because they are allies of the US.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad says the link
between local Islamic militants and al-Qaeda grew out of their
joint involvement in the war against the Soviet occupation of
Afghanistan.

The Malaysian authorities have arrested more than 70 alleged
militants, many linked to JI, since mid-2001. All are held under
the Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows for indefinite
detention without trial.

Acceptance of such draconian legislation is one of the
insidious effects of the fallout from the terrorist bombings.

Western countries, which previously criticized Malaysia's
human rights record, now praise the government for its
cooperation in the war against terrorism.

And in Indonesia, where civil liberties were resurgent after
the end of the Soeharto dictatorship in 1998, the Bali blast has
led to the introduction of detention without trial for up to six
months.

The wider impact, however, has been on the economies of the
region, which were just picking themselves up from the floor
after the devastating financial crisis of 1997-98.

Tourism is a crucial source of revenue for many countries, and
it has taken a body blow.

In Indonesia, tourism employs more than seven million people
and last year brought in US$4.7 billion in revenue, or about 10
percent of gross national product, with Bali being a prime
destination.

Bali hotels saw occupancy rates plummet to single digits after
the bombing and they remain at around 36 percent.

If the tourists fail to return, some 2.7 million people across
Indonesia could find themselves out of a job, Tourism Minister I
Gede Ardika has said.

But it is not only Indonesia that is suffering the fallout.

Leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) complained at their annual summit in Phnom Penh
in November that a bad situation was being made worse by Western
governments warning their nationals against traveling in the
region.

Those governments responded by saying they were only doing
their duty to their citizens, driving a wedge between nations
which all say their primary aim is the elimination of terrorism.

That wedge was hammered deeper by Australian Prime Minister
John Howard's warning last month that Canberra felt entitled to
take pre-emptive action against terrorists in neighboring
countries if they threatened Australia.

Southeast Asian nations, which had sympathized with Australia
over its losses in Bali, reacted with outrage. Mahathir said any
such action would be seen as an act of war.

So, as with the attacks on the U.S., the victims are losing
sympathy in response to what is seen as a heavy-handed,
indiscriminate reaction in which the powerful nations of the
world are targeting Islam rather than terrorism.

Mahathir, who has led mainly-Muslim Malaysia for more than two
decades and become something of an international spokesman for
moderate Islam, has warned repeatedly that this perception will
give rise to more terrorism.