How Bali came together after the Oct. 12 tragedy

I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

As the enormity of the events of the night of Oct. 12, 2002, slowly began to sink in the following morning, phone lines across the island buzzed with news of the casualties.

Underlying the frantic conversations, there was also a growing sense of dismay and apprehension about what could lie ahead. Many feared that it would trigger a backlash of interfaith violence, destroying the harmonious relationship between the majority Hindu community and minority Muslims.

"We must act, and act with such a speed that our actions will extinguish the problem even before it starts coming to the surface," noted intellectual LK Suryani stated firmly in a phone conversation with a journalist on Oct. 13.

And act swiftly they did.

By 9 a.m., a large group of intellectuals, religious leaders, high-ranking security officers and government officials had gathered in the Bali governor's office in the Renon area.

It was an emotional gathering. There was anger in the air, but it was directed at those responsible for the bombings, not at any minority communities.

Toward the end of the meeting, the then Bali police chief, Brig. Gen. Budi Setyawan, pledged that the police would apprehend the perpetrators in less than a month or he would voluntarily resign his post.

Bali governor Dewa Made Beratha extended his condolences to the victims' families and urged the Balinese to stand united. Religious leaders from all major faiths condemned the terrorist attack, stressing that no religion condoned such cowardly and inhumane actions.

Tellingly, they also urged their followers to maintain order.

Later in the evening, various student groups and NGOs held a special meeting in the Sanglah area and agreed to conduct coordinated efforts to tackle two issues of priority: assisting the victims and preventing a conflict from breaking out in society.

The following day, local and national newspapers, as a result of hastily coordinated efforts by several field reporters, published bombing stories, in which the exploits of Kuta's Muslim community leader Haji Agus Bambang Priyanto and his Fardhu Kifayah volunteers in helping evacuate the victims were given prominent space.

A year on, the much feared conflict among religious groups has thankfully failed to materialize.

Contrary to what many people believe, or like to believe, the absence of violence was not due to the Balinese's obedience to a noble culture upholding peace at all costs. In fact, it was the result of several factors, noble and otherwise, that merged and gave birth to a momentum for peace.

"The government and various local organizations managed to act effectively and quickly in providing the public with outlets, through which they could channel their emotions and strengthen the cohesion between different communities," sociologist I Gde Pitana said.

"That's one of the reasons why the conflict did not take place."

He recalled that in the weeks following the bombings, the local government and social organizations held numerous public prayers and vigils, at which people from different religions and ethnic backgrounds were united in the sacredness of the events -- and the shared feeling of community.

"Balinese Hindus are firm believers in Karma Pala, the law of causality, that the good will be rewarded and the bad punished, no matter what. Through all those prayer events and rituals, they placed the matter of vengeance in the hands of the gods."

Another factor was the pragmatic nature of the Balinese in looking to the future.

"The Balinese were very aware that the bombings would damage the tourist industry, the island's economic backbone," he said.

"They also knew that any ensuing violent conflict would further aggravate the economic problems and might virtually destroy the island's small chance of getting tourists back. So, they wisely chose to control their anger."

Cultural observer I Ketut Sumarta attributes pointed out that no sacred areas were attacked and that relatively few Balinese were among the victims.

"Can you imagine what would have happened if the bombs had destroyed a Hindu temple or if hundreds of Balinese had been killed in the attack? The Balinese would have surely run amok," he said.

For the chairman of the hard-line Dharma Study Institute (LKSD), Jondra, the police's seriousness and effectiveness in investigating the bombings played a vital role in defusing the emotion-filled situation.

True to Budi Setyawan's promise, the police succeeded in arresting the first suspect, Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, less than a month after the bombings.

"The arrest also reinforced the Balinese people's faith in Karma Pala and the spiritual power of this island. Those terrorists had conducted terror attacks in various places in Indonesia before and they had never got arrested, until they bombed Bali," Jondra said.

"It was also reported that the arrest was made possible after the chief of the investigation team, Inspector General Made Mangku Pastika, received 'divine guidance' from the gods in the island's biggest temple of Besakih."

He quipped: "Moreover, the Balinese have always been very reluctant to be violent toward non-Balinese. It's the character of the Balinese that we love to beat our fellow Balinese around instead of engaging in conflict against outsiders."

Haji Agus Bambang Priyanto has his own theory.

"The Hindu and Muslim communities in Bali have a very strong historic and emotional bond that goes back to the 14th century. We are brothers, and that's the most important reason why this horrendous tragedy has failed to destroy and to break down our communities along the lines of religious and ethnic differences," he said.

Bambang stressed that Islam came to Bali through peaceful means. Balinese Hindu kings showed generosity to Muslims, providing them with land and assisting them in building mosques. Several kings even gave financial assistance to Muslim subjects who wanted to take the pilgrimage to Mecca. In return, the Muslims provided the kings with loyal guards and fierce warriors.

"For instance, the Muslim villages of Kampung Bugis in Tuban and Kampung Kepaon were built upon the spacious plots of land bestowed by the royal family of Pemecutan," he said.

"We will never let ourselves be carried away by fleeting emotions, such as anger, that might jeopardize the bond between Hindus and Muslims, the legacy of our forefathers."