Author: Reuters
Publication: The Indian Express
Dated: October 17, 2002
Hindu priest Mangku Gama sits cross-legged
inside a roadside temple on Bali skewering pieces of meat onto bamboo sticks
and wondering if the weekend bomb blasts have disrupted the island's tranquillity
for good. Cauldrons of chicken and duck are cooking and meat carcasses
are being strung up from the roof. Women in fancy sarongs and ornate hair
pieces shuttle in and out.
Festive scenes like this are not
uncommon in the predominantly Hindu island which has long been seen as
an oasis of peace.
But religious elders like Gama say
last week's devastating blasts - about an hour's drive from his temple
- could be a bad omen. "The priests and holy men are very anxious about
the bombings. We are concerned this could cause great loss for the Balidese,
Indonesia and the world in general," Gama said, sitting in a circle of
priests at the temple in the village of Beraban.
"If this cannot be solved and the
perpetrators arrested, maybe it will happen again." Indonesia has detained
two suspects in connection with Saturday night's bomb blasts which killed
more than 180 mostly foreign tourists partying in the throbbing Kuta beach
strip.
It has also said the bombs were
a sign the Al-Qaeda terrorist network was operating in the world's most
populous Muslim nation, something Indonesia's anxious neighbours have suspected
for months.
Tourism has long been the lifeblood
of Bali and government figures show almost 1.5 million visitors flocked
to the picture postcard island last year - out of an Indonesia total of
five million tourists - but many travel agencies are now predicting a grim
future.
Al-Qaeda, blamed for last year's
September 1 1 attacks on New York and Washington, is a foreign concept
to most Villagers in Beraban where life revolves around tending rice paddies
and cattle and making daily offerings to the gods.
"We look and hear about Al-Qaeda
on the television but we don't understand. If many tourists do not come
to Bali now because of this, it will be bankrupt," Gama said.
A few kilometres away, one of Bali's
biggest tourist magnets, the revered Tanah Lot temple, is already showing
the strain.
Staff at the centuries-old temple
not only fear shrinking 'numbers of sightseers but say the bomb bodes ill
for their culture and happy-go-lucky people.
"Balinese people like to play and
do not usually worry about things but a big incident like this is very,
very bad and in my mind, will bring bad luck," said 29-year-old temple
worker Made Sujana.
"All the regency chiefs have already
had a conference and take offerings in the hope that Bali will stay safe,"
he added.
