End of age of innocence - Bali 2002

Australia remembers Bali bombing as end of age of innocence
Sat Oct 11, 8:46 PM ET  


SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia mourned as a nation for the victims of the Bali bombings, with many commentators saying it marked a watershed in Australia\'s history and the end of an age of innocence.


AFP/POOL Photo
 
   

As people nationwide donned ribbons in memory of the 202 victims, who included 88 Australians, church services were held around the country to commemorate the first anniversary of Australia\'s worst terrorist attack.


Prime Minister John Howard is in Bali for a service taking place there amid tight security. Coverage of the event dominated television and radio broadcasts.


Analysts said Australia had changed forever as a result of the bombing, which had made its ties to other Western countries stronger and increased public awareness about the problems of neighbouring Indonesia.


"The war was now on our doorstep because of Bali," opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation\'s Insiders programme.


Although several hundred victims and their families have gone to Bali, many have deliberately chosen not to attend. Adelaide magistrate Brian Deegan, whose son Joshua was killed, told Insiders he would prefer simply to be with his family and friends and those of his son.


"I don\'t wish to go back. I don\'t wish to attend a ceremony. I wish to be with my friends, my loved ones and all of Joshua\'s friends. I think that is far more important than listening to the prime minister," Deegan said.


Deegan has spoken out bitterly about the government\'s failure to warn travellers before the bombing that Bali could be a terrorist target. He said he hoped Howard would use his time there to reflect on Australia\'s future.


In Canberra overnight, residents got a start when a flyover by F-111 bombers as part of commemorations of the centenary of Australia\'s highest court was taken by some as a new terrorist attack.


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For Australia, taking population figures into consideration, the Bali bombings were just as bad to Australia as the 911 plane crashes were to the US.

We will catch the bastards one day.

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

Gotta love all the americans who do really care....

[GmanJoe]

Originally posted by §ôµÏG®ïñD
Gotta love all the americans who do really care....

Well, I was shocked as well. I was in Asia this year and Bali was on my mind. The area I was at had very very tight security but that still didn\'t make me feel completely safe. But ya gotta move on...but more carefully.

What group did the bombing?

Jihad-Islamiah was blamed on the news.

Well I suppose thats a big fxck u from all the americans.

Its nice to see the love goes both ways...

[GmanJoe]

What are you talking about? Was there some official announcement that Americans don\'t care?

Sorry, that wasn\'t called for. I\'m just pissed off at the moment.

If the same thing had of happened and it was all Americans that were killed then this thread would be onto its fourth page... Sorry, that wasn\'t called for either.

Its a big deal for Australia thats all. You have like 13x more people then we do, and 88x13 = 1144. Thats like almost the amount of US citizens that got killed in 911...

I think it\'s because our media is pretty ethnocentric, and anything that doesn\'t involve us directly we don\'t hear about all that much.  Most members here probably don\'t even know what the title of this thread means.  It\'s not a lack of empathy, but ignorance as to what happend.

It was pretty bad, but Bali isn\'t even part of Australia... It\'s like something like this happening to some middle-eastern country and whatnot, in which if any Western races weren\'t hit, then it won\'t be largely publicized or signified.

Yeah it was sad, but more of a tragedy for Indonesia then Australia.