Bali remembers October 12
The Jakarta Post, Kuta, Bali
Under a scorching sun and blue skies, survivors, relatives of 202 dead victims and hundreds of other people marked the second anniversary on Tuesday of the bombings that shook the resort island of Bali two years ago.
The mourners, mostly Australians, attended memorial events held along the Kuta nightclub strip -- the scene of the bombings -- and held a moment of silence in memory of the victims.
They offered prayers, sang songs and observed 202 seconds of silence for those killed in the Oct. 12, 2002 attack blamed on the Jamaah Islamiyah regional terror network.
The event was notable for the absence of senior government officials from Jakarta.
During the emotional ceremony, widows and children of the Indonesian victims as well as the 120 Australian family members, friends and foreign officials jointly laid wreaths and flowers around a monument to the dead.
The newly built monument, bearing the names of the 202 dead, including 88 Australians, was inaugurated during the memorial event by the Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, David Ritchie, along with Bali's Badung regent, AA Ngurah Oka Ratmadi.
Featuring a Balinese tree-like sculpture, a small fountain and the 22 flags of the victims' homelands, the monument stands between the Sari Club and Paddy's Bar, where the two powerful bombs exploded. It cost some Rp 1.17 billion (US$130,000).
Minutes after the official inauguration, three relatives of the dead victims suddenly fainted in front of the monument, while a number of others cried out as they saw the names of their dead family members on it.
"I was moved by the moment when I looked at the name of my husband, Made Sujana, inscribed on the monument," said his wife, Wayan Rasmi. Sujana, who worked as a security guard for the Sari Club, was among those who perished in the tragedy.
Ritchie said the bombings -- the worst terrorist attack in Indonesian history -- should bring Australians and Indonesians closer in order to defeat the terrorists.
"We are not only here united in our grief and sympathy but in our determination to eradicate this evil from our world," he said in a speech at the monument.
Ritchie also quoted from a speech by president-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during last year's anniversary, when he pledged to put the bombers "in our darkest dungeons, locked away deep beneath our children's playground".
The Denpasar District Court has convicted and sentenced more than 30 militants in connection with the blasts, including three who were sentenced to death and one who got a life sentence.
Ahead of sunset on Tuesday evening, hundreds of Balinese and foreigner visitors also gathered on Kuta beach for a ceremony to commemorate the victims.
Later in the night, a prayer session along with a candlelight vigil were held at the monument. Other commemorative events also took place outside the Bajra Sandhi museum in Bali's capital, Denpasar.
Security was tight for Tuesday's ceremony, with more than 1,000 police officers on guard assisted by members of Bali's Pecalang traditional militia.
Armored vehicles blocked off streets around the bomb site, while a helicopter buzzed overhead and six sharpshooters were positioned on rooftops.
The anniversary comes only a month after what police say was a suicide bombing outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta killed 10 people and injured more than 180 on Sept. 9.