Victims want death for Bali bombers, uncertain about future

Victims want death for Bali bombers, uncertain about future

Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

Victims and their families still deeply traumatized over last
month's Bali bomb attacks say that death is the only fitting
punishment for such an evil, barbaric deed.

They also praise the police for their success in quickly
capturing leading suspects Imam Samudra and Amrozi in less or
more than a month after the Oct. 12 bombing.

The authorities have to do much more, however, to arrest other
suspects, particularly the real masterminds behind the attacks,
they told The Jakarta Post separately on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The victims believe that the police have made significant
progress in solving the tragic bombing that has devastated Bali
and its tourism sector, upon which both the Balinese and migrants
depend for their livelihood.

For the victims and their families outraged by the bombing,
death for the perpetrators would be a fitting punishment.

"I want the bombers sentenced to death immediately," Ngesti
Puji Rahayu, better known as Yayuk, one of the victims wounded by
the explosion at Paddy's bar in Legian, Kuta, said, venting her
wrath.

Yayuk, who works as a chef for a small restaurant called Road
Kill near Kuta, visited Paddy's bar with her 26-year old boss
Deasy Widyawati Rahayu. They arrived at the cafe 30 minutes
before it was bombed.

The two later fled to the rear of the cafe and survived the
tragedy, the worst bombing in Indonesia's history.

Deasy, who is currently receiving medical care at Concord
Hospital in Sydney, made a similar demand for the death penalty
for the bombers, according to Deasy's mother Sri Widyawati.

"They deserve punishment commensurate with what they had done.
Because they have killed others, they must be sentenced to
death," Sri said.

Niluh Januarini, whose 18-year-old son I Nyoman Mawa is still
missing after the explosion at Paddy's, said she had no feeling
of revenge but was extremely outraged by the evil act of the
terrorists.

Death would be the only commensurate punishment for the
perpetrators, she added. Mawa is believed to have died and his
body may be among the dozens of unidentified corpses still at
Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar.

Zuniar Nuraini, of Situbondo town in East Java who lost her
46-year-old husband Aryoso Rahmat, expressed her deep anger
toward the bombers who caused her husband's death at the
neighboring Sari Club.

"Revenge will never bring my husband back. What we should do
is to give them (the bombers) the harshest possible punishment,"
Zuniar told the Post.

The survivors and families of the dead are still clearly
traumatized by the tragedy. Some of them have even been avoiding
watching television and reading newspapers that give updated news
on the bombings.

"I don't want to watch TV. I know from my friends that Amrozi
and Imam Samudra have been arrested as suspects. I don't want to
follow the news on them," said Yayuk, a widow who lives alone in
Bali.

She was discharged from the Royal Hospital in Perth,
Australia, last week after receiving treatment there for serious
burns. She had earlier received medical care at Sanglah Hospital
in Denpasar, after which she was taken to Perth for treatment on
Oct. 18.

The upper half of Yayuk's body from her face to navel shows
traces of the burns. She underwent plastic surgery on her face at
Royal Hospital.

Her health is improving but she is prohibited from going under
the sun for several months as part of her recovery. She is still
under the care of an Australian doctor who visits her every day
at her boarding house in the Seminyak area near Kuta.

Yayuk, 40, who comes from the East Java town of Jember, will
return home this week to celebrate Idul Fitri early next month.

Some other victims' families, however, do not know how they
will survive following the death of their loved ones, who were
the family breadwinners.

Zuniar, for instance, admitted that she did not know how she
would survive in the future along with her 19-year-old daughter
and 16-year-old son after the death of her husband, who worked as
a driver for Sari Club.

She and other victims have received humanitarian aid from the
central and regional administrations as well as several
organizations, including Hati Foundation and Rotary Club, which
will help the families of victims to survive for several months.
However, their future remains unclear.