Memorial remembers Bali bombings victims
Reuters
2012-10-12
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Hundreds attended a memorial service in Bali on Friday (October 12) to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the bombings that killed 202 people.
The blasts were a watershed for Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population, forcing the secular state to confront the presence of violent Islamists.
"We do not condemn a certain religion, we condemn those people who has done brutal violence in the name of religion," said Bali's Governor Made Mangku Pastika, who was chief of police at the time of the attacks.
The Australian government provided financial assistance to the families of Bali bombing victims who wanted to attend the memorial service.
Indonesia has been largely successful in containing militancy and there have been no big attacks on Western targets since 2009, when suicide bombers attacked two hotels in the capital, Jakarta, killing nine people and wounding 53.
Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard and John Howard, her predecessor at the time of the attack on the 2002 attack, joined Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa to mark the event.
Gillard called the bombings, which killed 88 Australians, a failure in its aim of terror.
"Even as the debris fell it was obvious the attack on our sense of ourselves as Australians, as human beings, had failed. Rescuers ran towards the terror. Volunteers extended their hands by the hundreds, Indonesians and Australians alike. A remarkable medical effort swung into place. A thorough policing effort followed, methodically dismantling the terrorist network responsible and our two countries drew closer than we had ever been before," she said.
After the bombings, security forces detained nearly 600 militants, most of whom have been jailed.
Three main perpetrators of the bombings, members of a Southeast Asian militant group allied with al Qaeda, were convicted and executed by firing squad in 2008.
Hundreds attended a memorial service in Bali on Friday (October 12) to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the bombings that killed 202 people.
The blasts were a watershed for Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population, forcing the secular state to confront the presence of violent Islamists.
"We do not condemn a certain religion, we condemn those people who has done brutal violence in the name of religion," said Bali's Governor Made Mangku Pastika, who was chief of police at the time of the attacks.
The Australian government provided financial assistance to the families of Bali bombing victims who wanted to attend the memorial service.
Indonesia has been largely successful in containing militancy and there have been no big attacks on Western targets since 2009, when suicide bombers attacked two hotels in the capital, Jakarta, killing nine people and wounding 53.
Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard and John Howard, her predecessor at the time of the attack on the 2002 attack, joined Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa to mark the event.
Gillard called the bombings, which killed 88 Australians, a failure in its aim of terror.
"Even as the debris fell it was obvious the attack on our sense of ourselves as Australians, as human beings, had failed. Rescuers ran towards the terror. Volunteers extended their hands by the hundreds, Indonesians and Australians alike. A remarkable medical effort swung into place. A thorough policing effort followed, methodically dismantling the terrorist network responsible and our two countries drew closer than we had ever been before," she said.
After the bombings, security forces detained nearly 600 militants, most of whom have been jailed.
Three main perpetrators of the bombings, members of a Southeast Asian militant group allied with al Qaeda, were convicted and executed by firing squad in 2008.
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