Bomb instills fear in Bali's Hindus
Bomb instills fear in Bali's Hindus
Joanne Collins, Reuters, Bali
Hindu priest Mangku Gama sits cross-legged inside a roadside
temple on Bali skewering pieces of beef on to bamboo sticks and
wondering if the weekend bomb blasts have disrupted the island's
tranquility for good.
Cauldrons of chicken and duck are cooking, a boar is penned up
for slaughter and meat carcasses are being strung up from the
roof. Women in fancy sarongs and ornate hair pieces shuttle in
and out.
Festive scenes like this are not uncommon in the predominantly
Hindu island which has long been seen as an oasis of peace.
But religious elders like Gama say last week's devastating
blasts -- about an hour's drive from his temple -- could be a bad
omen.
"The priests and holymen are very anxious about the bombings.
We are concerned this could cause great loss for the Balinese,
Indonesia and the world in general," Gama said, sitting in a
circle of priests at the temple in the village of Beraban.
"If this cannot be solved and the perpetrators arrested, maybe
it will happen again."
Indonesia has detained two suspects in connection with
Saturday night's bomb blasts which killed more than 180 mostly
foreign tourists partying in the throbbing Kuta beach strip.
It has also said the bombs were a sign the al Qaeda terrorist
network was operating in the world's most populous Muslim nation,
something Indonesia's anxious neighbors have suspected for
months.
Tourism has long been the lifeblood of Bali and government
figures show almost 1.5 million visitors flocked to the picture
postcard island last year -- out of an Indonesia total of five
million tourists -- but many travel agencies are now predicting a
grim future.
Al Qaeda, blamed for last year's September 11 attacks on New
York and Washington, is a foreign concept to most villagers in
Beraban where life revolves around tending rice paddies and
cattle and making daily offerings to the gods.
"We look and hear about al Qaeda on the television but we
don't understand. If many tourists do not come to Bali now
because of this, it will be bankrupt," Gama said.
A few kilometers (miles) away, one of Bali's biggest tourist
magnets, the revered Tanah Lot temple, is already showing the
strain.
Staff at the centuries-old temple not only fear shrinking
numbers of sightseers but say the bomb bodes ill for their
culture and happy-go-lucky people.
"Balinese people like to play and do not usually worry about
things but a big incident like this is very, very bad and in my
mind, will bring bad luck," said 29-year-old temple worker Made
Sujana.
"All the regency chiefs have already had a conference and take
offerings in the hope that Bali will stay safe," he added.
Mysticism and omens aside, the numbers of local and foreign
tourists visiting Tanah Lot speak for themselves.
Visitors were down about a third on Sunday, typically the
busiest day at the rocky islet temple.
On Tuesday, Briton Pat Nutting, 36, was the only tourist
there.
"Everyone thinks there will be another blast but things like
this tend to happen only once," he told Reuters as he smoked a
cigarette.
"I had seen this place on all the postcards and wanted to
come. So here I am."