Bali A Soft
Target
By Marianne Kearney
04 October 2005
Aljazeera
Lulled
into a false sense of security by the logic that lightning does not
strike the same place twice, thousands of tourists had been returning
to Bali over the past two years, only to be caught up again in another
attack.
Almost three years
to the day after the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings, the popular island
resort made headlines when 26 people were killed and several others
injured in near simultaneous attacks against tourist centres on 1 October.
"Of course
they were sending a message," Indonesia's anti-terror chief, General
Ansyaad Mbai, told Aljazeera.net. "It's a symbolic attack, and
they aimed to threaten people and to frighten them."
General Mbai believes Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the South East Asian group
blamed for the 2002 attacks on two nightclubs, may be behind the latest
bombings.
"Based on the
modus operandi, police believe that it is the same [group] as those
behind the Bali bombings," he said.
In 2002, bombs were
timed to explode simultaneously; this coupled with the fact the bombs
targeted one of the busiest times for the resort, all suggest JI handiwork,
he said.
Bali tightened its
security after the 2002 attacks, and had just begun luring tourists
back in droves. Many visitors interviewed last year on the eve of the
second anniversary of the nightclub attacks, said they were sure Bali
would not be hit again.
Jakarta suffered
an attack, on the JW Marriott Hotel, in August 2003 and another in September
2004 on the Australian embassy.
Extra security for
hotels, restaurants, embassies and foreign companies in Jakarta, employed
after the 2002 attacks, made it harder for terrorists to attack targets
in the Indonesian capital, says Martin Hughes, a security consultant
in Jakarta.
"There's been
a lot of focus on security in Jakarta. But in Jakarta you don't have
the sidewalk culture, like in Bali which makes it easy to launch attacks,"
Hughes says.
At any time of day,
Kuta, the centre of Bali's tourism industry, is packed with foreigners
of all nationalities, frequenting the hundreds of bars, discos, and
restaurants or just shopping.
The large number
of restaurants and cafes in Bali spilling onto streets or the beach
to take advantage of Bali's tropical climate make it almost impossible
to guard against such attacks, he adds.
Mbai says Bali was
a target because the perpetrators wanted to attack as many foreigners
as possible.
The bombers may
have returned to predominantly Hindu Bali, because they can maximise
damage to foreign victims while minimising harm to Muslims, says Sidney
Jones, an expert on militant Islam at the International Crisis Group,
an international think-tank.
Last year's attack
on the Australian embassy killed 11 Indonesians, mostly Muslim, and
the 2003 attack on the US-owned Marriott hotel, killed 11 Indonesians
and one Dutchman.
Far from provoking
sympathy or support for their campaign against Westerners, Indonesia's
predominantly Muslim population, as in the past, was quick to condemn
the bombings.
"The attack
was a vicious, cowardly and inhuman act," said senior Muslim leader,
Masdar Farid Mas'udi, from Nadlatul Ulema, Indonesia's largest Muslim
group.
Such condemnation
in the past caused a split within JI over whether such violence was
effective, says Jones.
But this offers
little solace to the Balinese, who are angered that their tranquil island
has again been targeted.
Most experts, including
General Mbai, are blaming Saturday's attack on two Malaysian fugitives
- alleged bomb expert Azahari Husin and Noordin Mohammad Top, both JI
militants, who allegedly helped orchestrate the 2002 Bali attack, as
well as the Marriott and embassy bombings.
But it is not clear
yet whether the three bombers, who police say blew themselves up in
Kuta and Jimbaran, were JI operatives.
Jones says the two fugitives may have launched Saturday's attack independently
of the JI network.
She points out that in the past three years this regional terror group
has been significantly disabled, as scores of its members were arrested
in the wake of the 2002 Bali bombings as well as the Marriott and embassy
attacks.
Police have also
found caches of weapons and bombs in JI safe-houses over the past year,
potentially averting several attacks.
"It could be
Kompak, a paramilitary group responsible for bombings in Ambon and the
recent bombing in Tentena," said Jones, referring to sporadic religious
conflict in the islands east of Jakarta.
"Or they could
be Azahari, Noordin wannabes, it could be a copycat attack," she
adds.