Hope, wariness in Australia as Bali trials start

Hope, wariness in Australia as Bali trials start

Michael Christie, Reuters, Sydney, Australia

Australian survivors of the Bali bombings and relatives of the
dead hope the trials of the accused bombers will help them heal,
but for some the hearings also promise to bring more pain, and
possible disappointment.

Amrozi, an Indonesian mechanic whose laughing appearances
before the media last November enraged Australians, goes on trial
on Monday for plotting the Oct. 12 bombing of a Bali nightclub in
which 202 people were killed, 88 of them Australians.

"When it happened, I never thought any of them would get
caught," said Erik de Haart, a member of the Coogee Dolphins
rugby league club whose legs still bear the scars of the flames
that killed six of his teammates.

"I just thought it'd be a case of, 'they were foreigners, they
were in the wrong place, that was their bad luck'. I'm glad the
trial's begun. It will enable us to move on."

Amrozi will be the first leading suspect to appear in trials
Indonesians expect will shed light on Jamaah Islamiah (JI), a
Southeast Asian Islamic group suspected of links to al-Qaeda --
blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Bali, long regarded by Australians as an extension of their
backyard, represented for many the island continent's own Sept.
11 in that it drove home a stark realization that there was no
safety in geographic isolation.

Australian police, who helped Indonesia track down the
suspected bombers, have advised Australians not to go to Bali for
the trials because they are likely to be lengthy and hard to
follow.

But several say they need to be there.

"I've got to go and visit the site of the bombing, it's one of
those things," said Adelaide magistrate Brian Deegan, who lost
his 22-year-old son Josh.

"I've never seen his body... I don't think I could ever get
over that but I've at least got to go and be where some of his
spirit is I guess, and then I've really got to see the site where
they kept him for two weeks before they brought him home."

Deegan hopes the trial will help him to come to terms with the
loss of his son. But he is wary of disappointment.

Many Australians were furious when an Indonesian shop owner,
who sold the chemicals allegedly used to make the Bali bombs, was
sentenced to just seven months jail on May 1.

Some also suspect the masterminds remain at large.

"They certainly have gone out like the true Mounties and
caught their man. I query though whether they're the true men?"
Deegan said.

The suspects face the death penalty in Indonesia if found
guilty, a prospect Australians, whose country opposes capital
punishment, have mixed views on.

"A lot of people would be happy with that," said the president
of the Dolphins' club, Alby Talarico.

Talking to Reuters by a memorial overlooking the pub where the
dead Coogee Dolphins rugby players drank, the fields where they
played and the beach where they swam, de Haart said he was not
one of those who favored capital punishment.

"Hoping that they will die, it will never bring the guys
back," he said.