How Bali came together after the Oct. 12 tragedy

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."