Expat expo rocked by Bali bomb explosion

Expat expo rocked by Bali bomb explosion

Cameron Bates, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It was marketed as the first international exhibition of products
and services for the expatriate community in Jakarta. Instead,
pain, despair and an overwhelming sense of tiredness with life in
Indonesia descended on many of those attending Expo 2002 on
Sunday.

The suffering but resolve to carry on with the show at the
International Sports Club of Indonesia (ISCI) was no better
demonstrated than by club adviser Sam Clayton, who struggled to
come to terms with the fact that five club members in Bali for a
rugby tournament were missing, probably dead.

A total of nearly 40 rugby players from the tournament were
listed as missing.

"It's a shock to the club ... a couple of years ago we lost
four family members in the Silk Air crash ... but you can't
compare accidental deaths like that to an act of terrorism," he
said in a voice cracked with emotion.

The five, whose names have not officially been released,
include three Australians, a New Zealander and a Canadian. Two of
the men were fathers, while a third was understood to be recently
engaged.

Surviving members of the 27-strong group from ISCI continued
the ghastly, unimaginable task of searching morgues for their
fallen friends, aged between 25 and 35 years, on Monday and
Tuesday, but without success.

The team returned to Jakarta on Tuesday and were planning to
discuss arrangements for a memorial service.

PT Sinar Expo Prima exhibition manager Yuanita said only about
1,000 people attended the expo on Sunday, well down from the
hoped for 5,000 plus.

The theme of the expo was supporting foreign investment in
Indonesia.

"All the major foreign investors are here and they are tired,
obviously sad, very sad. There is obvious shock and grief over
what has happened, but the overall mood is 'what for?', 'what are
we here for?'" Yuanita said.

She said expats would not renew contracts, while others were
already booking flights home.

"People are just saying, 'Right, I don't want my children here
anymore'. But there is no real sense of fear, there is just
people saying 'I want to take my kids somewhere else.'"

Expo stall-holder Eammon Saddler, who runs the Jakarta Comedy
Club, said the barbaric attack was a disaster for Indonesia.

"Bali was the last thing that Indonesia had that was safe and
outside all the problems associated with (Indonesia).

"It was the last stronghold of normality in Indonesia. Bali
was like the untouched thing that carried on through it all and
now it's over."

Milton Bavin, the manager of the Indonesia branch of Trantek
(International) Group, a human resources and business services
consultancy, said the impact of the attack on business would be
"huge".

"It's just another nail in the coffin for the economy. I mean
what have you got, you've got oil and gas and you've got tourism
and Bali was it."

He said the Australian International School, which his son
attends, had been closed indefinitely and the future looked bleak
for expats in general.

"I would imagine nobody would want to come here to work at
this point after this sort of thing. Who would?"

However, Englishman Peter Pool said he was looking at the
possibility of establishing a construction company in Indonesia.

"It's bad ... but if you run away from things like that you
are going to run out of places to go in the end. It happens in
London, it happens in America, it happens everywhere. It's very
unfortunate and very sad but you've just got to box on."