Al-Quaida strike in Bali

OMG. I just saw the morning papers. 50 people have been killed in two explosions in Denpansur (the capitol) and to the south-east of Bali in the holiday makers region. The Times suggests it is once again the handiwork of Al-Quaida (though I suspect that there is the tendancy in the media to cast this aspersion on any heinous act of barbarism in the world because of the current situation).

I was in Bali less than a month ago on holiday and cannot believe that anyone could do something so self destructive as to deprive the tiny island of it's major income - the tourist trade.

First off Bali is predominantly Hindu, not Islamic, but the people there are feircely proud of their pluralist society. My wife and I were taken to a lake high above Denpansur where the locals all had their little retreats. Around the lake were four temples - hindu, moslem, budhist and christian. Our guide proudly told us of the harmony and religious tolerance that this represented to his country since the end of Dutch and Japenese rule. We thought that this was a truly beautiful symbol and blueprint for how we might all one day come to live in such harmony. For the scourge of terrorism to have broken that tranquility is frankly obscence and makes me feel physically sick.

Secondly, 75% of the population are still farmers. Guess what the other 25% do? That's right, they work in the very industry that will suffer most from this attrocity. Tourmism. And I can honestly say that I have never been made to feel more welcome anywhere. The people there live a happy, community based lifestyle that we in the west could stand to learn a lot from.

In fact it's the only place I've ever seen practical communism actually work (and I 've been to mother russia - though I would jump at the chance to see the current state of China). Each village has a speciality - wood carving, silver casting, spice production, painting etc. Let's take wood carving as an example, because Bali is particularly famous for it.

The whole village make carvings and all display their wares in the the village hall. When visitors come the village chief (let's call him a commisar just for fun) who is one of the master carvers gives a tour of the village hall and sells whatever he can at the best price he can. Then the money is divided equally amongst the village. Socialism (of which communism is just the extreme, in the same way that the extreme of conservatism is facism) is defined as:

Quote:

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From each acording to his means, to each according to his needs.

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If the villages don't think the commisar represents them well enough, or doesn't get a good enough price for their wares they all go to the village hall and elect another commisar.

I know I'm rambling a bit here but I (for once) am having difficulty putting into words how sickened and appaled I am that such a dreadful thing should befall such friendly, hospitable and above all peace loving people. In our three weeks there my wife and I fell in love with the place and above all the people. This very sad.

It gets worse - As more news comes in the casualty figures still seem to be stacking up - I just heard 180 killed on the BBC - mostly Australian tourists. The UK are offering special anti-terrorist police to assist the local authorities.

**** happens,
i wonder how stupid they would be to kill of their main income ?

nsta,

Needless to say our news and press have been filled with this today as many of those injured and killed are likely to have come from the west coast of Australia. Our hospitals are gearing up to take the injured as we speak, as they are being evacuated tonight by our airforce and private carriers.

I have been to Bali a number of times and have always found it to be a beautiful, carefree environment filled with very hospitable locals. It has always been a very popular holiday destination for young people from my part of the world - due to its proximity and price.

I guess we down under have been somewhat complacent in that we think it will never happen to us, as we are stuck down here out of the way. This has hit home in a big way, the world and its troubles always seem so far away - until today. This has definitely been a wake up call, albeit a tragic one.

A local football team who landed on the island, only 8 hours before for an end of season trip, look like they have lost nearly half the team in the blast.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the injured and the families of those who have died so tragically, I yet may know some of them.

We still do not know how many Australians are involved or the break down of where they come from at this time, but we are preparing for bad news.

.... and nabylbt, your comment doesn't justify a response.

Phat Penguin
West Coast Oz

It seems as if no one anywhere is safe from terrorist action in this day and time... It is a damn shame that a few people have perverted a religion to the point that this type of action is justified... I am truly sorry that your country had to feel the sting of terror ntsa and Phat... :(

From what little I know about Indonesia, the attack came from a group known as Jemaah Islamiya, which might or might not have links to Al-Qaida. These are the same guys that had plans in 1997 to go after US interests in Singapore, and again in 1999. And their stated goal apparently is the creation of an Islamic state comprising of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and southern Phillipines. But I fail to understand how they can ever hope to achieve something like that through such grotesque means.

My condolences to those affected.

what purpose could attacks like this one possibly serve, except to unit sane thinkers everywhere against the terrorist's 'cause'. Makes me wonder, could people really be so stupid?

This is a horrible, horrible thing and whatever the influence behind this actually is, it should be wiped from the face of the earth.

i guess with all the negAP some people misunderstood my statement so here it is again:
-terrorism have many cause economic, religious, cultural ... and that is not getting any better with the mondialization
this is not stopping the terrorism but actually spreading it into an internationaly organized activity (for ex al quaida). THe causes are known but bombing left and right is not a way of solving thing in either case wether or not you are mandated by the UN
-This bombing is attributed to alquaida but there are no formal proofs that i know off. This is against any terrrorism "phylosophy" since most terrorism usualy claim loudly their responsabiltity in theior acts (for example the IRA in the UK , Hamas, and the others always has claimed their action) revandiquation is their political tool of getting their message to the masses and the news. So yes **** happens because the real people responsible for the violence do not come forward it can be the terrorist or the other that have resulted the terrorit to become what they have become. and so far it doesn't seem that it is changing.
-what is the point of killing these people since they don't even know why they got bombed ? serve no purpose.
-I thaught the main idea of this forum is to assess technical skills not political opinions that are always contested....

nabylbt what kind of response did you expect for saying "**** happnes" to 150+ people being murdered.

Yes it is a security site if anyone has a security related or gen. computer/networking question it will be answered and fast. So security people are hanging out waiting to help or get the lastest security flash...whats wrong with throwing the bull and exchanging opinions. those with problems would not find anyone one here waiting to help otherwise.

I highly doubt Al Qaida is reponsible for this, because (and ppl...don't be slow and misunderstand this) Osama Bin Laden is a genius man, even tho he's insane at the same time. He reminds me a bit of Hitler, if he had applied his military genius to more productive and not in such ignorant and destructive ways he could've done increadible things for the world. They're both ingenius, yet somehow stupid and insane at the same time, but it doesn't look like the mark of AL Qaida (even tho when i first heard of the WTC's i doubted it was Al Qaida at first myself) so of course i may be wrong about this, but when they make attacks they're alot smarter than just running around and doing such stupid things such as this...(and again, don't take this the wrong way ppl) they're alot more focused on making attacks that would be more crippling than this. Mahkaal is more than likely right about this matter, and we should probably point the finger at Jemaah Islamiya in this matter. But who knows...maybe all those religious texts and rantings are right about the world coming to an end. Or at least going to $h!t.