bali bombing 2002 impact on tourism

How the Bali bombings transformed our relations with Indonesia

Malcolm Smith Professor of Asian Law and Director of the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society, The University of Melbourne

Disclosure statement

Tim Lindsey has in the past received funding from the Australian Research Council and various federal government departments.

University of Melbourne provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation AU.

View all partners

An hour before midnight, 20 years ago, a young Indonesian man walked into Paddy’s Pub, a nightclub in the heart of Bali’s party district of Kuta, and detonated a backpack laden with explosives. Seconds later, a massive car bomb exploded outside the Sari Club across the road.

The impact was devastating. Paddy’s Pub and the Sari Club were destroyed, along with surrounding buildings. In all, 202 people died, but 88 Australian tourists and 38 Indonesian residents and workers were the largest groups . More than 200 more were also badly injured.

It soon became clear the attack was the work of militant Islamists. Indonesian authorities quickly focused on Jemaah Islamiyah, a group that, two years earlier, had been involved in a series of coordinated bombings of churches across Indonesia on Christmas Eve.

Evidence eventually emerged that Al Qaeda had helped fund the attack, through an Indonesian, Riduan Isamuddin, known as Hambali, now a long-term inmate of Guantanamo Bay. But the roots of militant Islamist violence in Indonesia are much older than Al Qaeda. They can be traced back at least to Darul Islam, an Islamist militia that began a long-running war against the Indonesian republic in the late 1940s. Jemaah Islamiyah split from Darul Islam in the 1990s.

Read more: Remembering the Bali bombings ten years on

How the bombings drew Australia and Indonesia closer

At first, it wasn’t clear how the bombings in Kuta would affect relations between Australia and Indonesia. Then-Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has spoken of his fear the bombings would drive a wedge between the two countries, with the public in each blaming the other .

Instead, the bombings – for both countries, their largest loss of life in a single terrorist attack – drew the two nations together, despite the deep rift created by Australia’s involvement in the secession of East Timor in 1999.

The bombings sparked unprecedented political, security and aid cooperation, with leaders of the two countries feeling they faced a common foe. This only deepened as Jemaah Islamiyah continued its bombing campaign. It targeted upmarket Western hotels in Jakarta and even the Australian Embassy in 2004 before striking again in Bali in 2005.

Australian and United States support helped to fund the establishment of the Indonesian Police’s effective, if controversial, counter-terrorism unit, “Special Detachment 88” (Densus 88). Many members of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) later described the relationship that developed with Indonesian police as like a “brotherhood” .

Likewise, Australian aid was soon flowing to a range of programs to counter violent extremism in Indonesia. This included a major investment to support reform of Indonesia’s important Islamic education sector, long neglected by Indonesian governments.

Death penalty double standards?

Many members of the Jemaah Islamiyah cell that carried out the Kuta attack were rounded up within weeks. Others escaped, but Indonesian authorities, supported by the AFP, were dogged in their pursuit of Jemaah Islamiyah. For years to come, hundreds of suspects would be hunted and arrested and many killed – sometimes in wild shoot-outs and sieges where Densus 88 seemed to be operating without a rule book.

Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, the “spiritual leader” of Jemaah Islamiyah and a long-term opponent of the Indonesian state, was eventually convicted of conspiracy in relation to the Bali bombings in 2005. He received only a two-and-a-half year prison sentence, which was quashed by the Supreme Court in 2006 (although he was jailed for 15 years on another charge in 2011).

However, less than a year after the bombings, three of the key figures involved were sentenced to death: cell leader Abdul Aziz, the self-styled “Imam Samudra”; the attack coordinator, Ali Ghufron, known as Mukhlas; and his brother, Amrozi bin Haji Nurhasyim.

Then-Prime Minister John Howard was quick to endorse the executions saying it would be an “injustice” if they didn’t proceed. His eventual successor, Labor leader Kevin Rudd, agreed the three men deserved their fate.

Amrozi became infamous in the West for seeming to greet what he saw as impending martyrdom with enthusiasm. But all three perpetrators wrote or recorded unrepentant justifications for the bombings. Like Osama bin Laden, they saw terrorism as legitimate revenge for “Western aggression” against Muslims in a global holy war.

Despite this, the three men eventually lodged appeals and a constitutional challenge in attempts to overturn their sentences. These failed, and in the early hours of November 9 2008, they were shot dead by a firing squad on the prison isle of Nusa Kambangan.

Read more: Bali Nine: hypocrisy, politics and courts play out in death row lottery

The support of Australian leaders for these executions was to backfire when Australian Bali Nine drug smugglers, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, were sentenced to death in 2006.

Determined Australian efforts to have their sentences commuted to life attracted global support, including from the UN Secretary General . But they were rejected in Jakarta as hypocritical and evidence of an Australian “double standard”, with the two men facing the firing squad on Nusa Kambangan on April 29 2015.

Their deaths were, in some ways, an unforeseen consequence of the close cooperation between Australian and Indonesian police triggered by the Bali bombings. It was the decision of the AFP to tip off the Indonesian police that led to the arrest of the Bali Nine in Indonesia, rather than on return to Australia.

Protocols have now been introduced to prevent Australians being exposed to the death penalty in this way.

A gradual weakening

As the Jemaah Islamiyah bombings became more distant, the partnership between Australian and Indonesian law enforcement authorities gradually weakened. This was in part because some Indonesians felt Australia wanted too much credit for its role in the crushing of Jemaah Islamiyah.

Even so, other events inevitably also created tensions in the relationship. As well as the fate of Sukumaran and Chan, these included Australian policy on refugees, the decision of the Gillard government to halt live cattle exports to Indonesia due to mistreatment there, and revelations Australia tapped the phones of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife.

Likewise, a series of savage aid cuts under the Abbott government saw Australia suddenly walk away from Islamic education in Indonesia, to the dismay of many Muslim reformers.

Read more: Jokowi’s visit shows the Australia-Indonesia relationship is strong, but faultlines remain

Today, relations between Australia and Indonesia are more distant. Jemaah Islamiyah no longer seems a serious threat, but Islamist militants certainly remain. For Indonesian authorities, Darul Islam and the groups that emerge from it are a part of the political landscape, and have been since the republic was founded in the 1940s. They see them as a relatively minor threat, but one they expect to persist.

For Australia, the Bali bombings were the moment Al Qaeda’s war on the US and its allies reached us, albeit offshore in the nation’s favourite holiday resort. However, for governments here, the “War on Terror” is now being displaced by other security priorities, including the rise of the home-grown far-right.

But while it may be true that Jemaah Islamiyah’s Bali bombings are fast becoming history, that will never be the case for the many survivors in both countries. They continue to live with the consequences every day.

• Jemaah Islamiyah
• Bali bombing
• Radical Islam
• Indonesia politics
• Indonesia-Australia relations

Scheduling Analyst

Assistant Editor - 1 year cadetship

Executive Dean, Faculty of Health

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer, Earth System Science (School of Science)

Sydney Horizon Educators (Identified)

• Election 2024
• Entertainment
• Newsletters
• Photography
• Personal Finance
• AP Investigations
• AP Buyline Personal Finance
• AP Buyline Shopping
• Press Releases
• Israel-Hamas War
• Russia-Ukraine War
• Global elections
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East
• Election Results
• Delegate Tracker
• AP & Elections
• Auto Racing
• 2024 Paris Olympic Games
• Movie reviews
• Book reviews
• Personal finance
• Financial Markets
• Business Highlights
• Financial wellness
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Media

20 years after Bali bombings, ‘the ache does not dim’

Australian Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts, center, carries a wreath during the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Bali bombing that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, including 88 Australians and seven Americans, at the Australian Consulate in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. Services were held simultaneously in several places in Australia and at Bali’s Australian Consulate in the city of Denpasar, where Australian survivors and relatives of the deceased were among the 200 in attendance to pay tribute to their loved ones who died in the most popular tourist area on the island two decades ago. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati, Pool)

A couple embrace after laying a flower tribute during a memorial ceremony in Sydney, Australia, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, honoring the victims of the 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, including 88 Australians, and seven Americans. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

A commemorative plaque with the names of victims is adorned with flowers during a memorial ceremony in Sydney, Australia, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, honoring the victims of the 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, including 88 Australians, and seven Americans. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Doves are released during a memorial ceremony in Sydney, Australia, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, honoring the victims of the 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, including 88 Australians, and seven Americans. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

People gather during a memorial ceremony in Sydney, Australia, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, honoring the victims of the 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, including 88 Australians, and seven Americans. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, center, lines up with others to place a flower tribute during a memorial ceremony in Sydney, Australia, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, honoring the victims of the 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, including 88 Australians, and seven Americans. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

A woman places a flower tribute during a memorial ceremony in Sydney, Australia, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, honoring the victims of the 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, including 88 Australians, and seven Americans. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Australian Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts lays a wreath during the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, including 88 Australians and seven Americans, at the Australian Consulate in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. Services were held simultaneously in several places in Australia and at Bali’s Australian Consulate in the city of Denpasar, where Australian survivors and relatives of the deceased were among the 200 in attendance to pay tribute to their loved ones who died in the most popular tourist area on the island two decades ago. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati, Pool)

Bali bombings survivor Andrew Csabi, center, holds flower as he attends the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the attack that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, including 88 Australians and seven Americans, at the Australian Consulate in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. Services were held simultaneously in several places in Australia and at Bali’s Australian Consulate in the city of Denpasar, where Australian survivors and relatives of the deceased were among the 200 in attendance to pay tribute to their loved ones who died in the most popular tourist area on the island two decades ago. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati, Pool)

A victim’s relative lays a wreath during the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, including 88 Australians and seven Americans, at the Australian Consulate in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. Services were held simultaneously in several places in Australia and at Bali’s Australian Consulate in the city of Denpasar, where Australian survivors and relatives of the deceased were among the 200 in attendance to pay tribute to their loved ones who died in the most popular tourist area on the island two decades ago. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati, Pool)

Relatives pay their respect for the victims of the Bali bombings during the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the attack that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, including 88 Australians and seven Americans, at the Australian Consulate in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. Services were held simultaneously in several places in Australia and at Bali’s Australian Consulate in the city of Denpasar, where Australian survivors and relatives of the deceased were among the 200 in attendance to pay tribute to their loved ones who died in the most popular tourist area on the island two decades ago. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati, Pool)

A victim’s relative carries a wreath during the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, including 88 Australians and seven Americans, at the Australian Consulate in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. Services were held simultaneously in several places in Australia and at Bali’s Australian Consulate in the city of Denpasar, where Australian survivors and relatives of the deceased were among the 200 in attendance to pay tribute to their loved ones who died in the most popular tourist area on the island two decades ago. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati, Pool)

A victim’s relative weeps during the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, including 88 Australians and seven Americans, at the Australian Consulate in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. Services were held simultaneously in several places in Australia and at Bali’s Australian Consulate in the city of Denpasar, where Australian survivors and relatives of the deceased were among the 200 in attendance to pay tribute to their loved ones who died in the most popular tourist area on the island two decades ago. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati, Pool)

Relatives of the victims of Bali bombings attend the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the attack that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, including 88 Australians and seven Americans, at the Australian Consulate in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. Services were held simultaneously in several places in Australia and at Bali’s Australian Consulate in the city of Denpasar, where Australian survivors and relatives of the deceased were among the 200 in attendance to pay tribute to their loved ones who died in the most popular tourist area on the island two decades ago. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati, Pool)

Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Penny Williams lays a wreath during the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, including 88 Australians and seven Americans, at the Australian Consulate in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. Services were held simultaneously in several places in Australia and at Bali’s Australian Consulate in the city of Denpasar, where Australian survivors and relatives of the deceased were among the 200 in attendance to pay tribute to their loved ones who died in the most popular tourist area on the island two decades ago. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati, Pool)

A victim’s relative lays flowers during the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, including 88 Australians and seven Americans, at the Australian Consulate in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. Services were held simultaneously in several places in Australia and at Bali’s Australian Consulate in the city of Denpasar, where Australian survivors and relatives of the deceased were among the 200 in attendance to pay tribute to their loved ones who died in the most popular tourist area on the island two decades ago. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati, Pool)

• Copy Link copied

DENPASAR, Indonesia (AP) — Hundreds gathered Wednesday on the Indonesian resort island of Bali to commemorate 20 years since a twin bombing killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, including 88 Australians and seven Americans.

Services were held simultaneously in several places in Australia and at Bali’s Australian Consulate in the city of Denpasar, where Australian survivors of the 2002 terrorist attack and relatives of the deceased were among the 200 in attendance to pay tribute.

Survivors are still battling with their trauma from the Saturday night in October 2002, when a car bomb in Sari Club and a nearly simultaneous suicide bomb at nearby Paddy’s Pub went off. That night remains seared into the national memories of Indonesians, Australians and many others.

After the attack, the bustling tourist area was quiet for a time, but it has since returned to a state of busy weekends, packed traffic and tourists. What used to be Sari Club is now a vacant lot, while Paddy’s Pub has resumed its operation 100 meters (300 feet) from its original location.

A monument stands less than 50 meters (yards) from the bombing sites with the names of the those who died inscribed on it. People regularly come to pray and place flowers, candles, or flags with photos of their loved ones.

A photo of two women tied with a bouquet of fresh chrysanthemums and roses sits next to a laminated paper that reads: “To our beautiful girls Renae & Simone. It is twenty years on and not a day has gone by without thinking of you both, and how we lost two treasures. Our hearts will cry for you forever. We love and miss you so very much. Your loving Dad and Brothers.”

Twenty years later, the pain is still felt.

“We will always remember those 202 innocent people, most under the age of 40, the youngest just 13 years old. We stand with the survivors, relatives and families and support them at this time. And we remember the valor and the quiet courage of those who saw the worst of humanity and responded with the best,” Australian Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts said at the memorial service in Denpasar.

Andrew Csabi, one of the survivors in attendance in Denpasar, said he is grateful to the first responders who issued first aid without self-preservation the night after the bombing, and to the government who medically evacuated them to Darwin, saving many lives.

“So I was granted a second chance at life and I make every minute count. I was often told that my life is bad for a reason. And how lucky I am. Yes, I am lucky I made it home and I will honor that privilege,” Csabi said.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attended a service in his hometown, Sydney, at the beachside suburb of Coogee. Six members of the Coogee Dolphins Rugby League Football Club died in the blasts.

Albanese paid tribute Wednesday to the strength and unity the Coogee community had shown since the tragedy.

“Twenty years ago, the shock waves from Bali reached our shores. Twenty years ago, an act of malice and calculated depravity robbed the world of 202 lives, including 88 Australians. Twenty years on, the ache does not dim,” Albanese said.

At a ceremony at Australian Parliament House in the national capital Canberra, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong welcomed Indonesian Ambassador Siswo Pramono, who was among the dignitaries.

“Ambassador, on behalf of the Australian government, I warmly welcome you and acknowledge the strength, the courage and the cooperation of our two peoples,” Wong said in Bahasa, the official language of Indonesia.

“Today, we remember what was taken. Today, we remember what was lost. And we wonder what might have been had they all come home,” Wong added.

Pramono said the terrorist attack had created a “better and stronger bond” between Indonesia and Australia.

“Twenty years ago today, a hideous crime struck and it was one of the saddest days in Indonesian history,” Pramono told the gathering.

“Family and friends were left with overwhelming grief and even though a lot of hearts were broken and our loved ones were taken from us, there are some things that a terrorist couldn’t take: our love and compassion for others and the idea that people are equal in rights and freedoms,” Pramono added.

The 2002 attack in Bali, carried out by suicide bombers from the al-Qaida-linked group Jemaah Islamiyah, started a wave of violence in the world’s most populous Muslim nation. Three years later, another bomb attack the island and killed 20 people. Numerous attacks followed, hitting an embassy, hotels, restaurants, a coffee shop, churches, and even police headquarters across the archipelago nation.

Two decades after the Bali bombings, counterterrorism efforts in the world’s most populous Muslim country remain highly active. Indonesia founded Densus 88, a national counterterrorism unit, in the wake of the attacks. More than 2,300 people have since been arrested on terrorism charges, according to data from the Center for Radicalism and Deradicalization Studies, a non-government Indonesian think tank.

In 2020, 228 people were arrested on terrorism charges. The number rose to 370 last year, underscoring authorities’ commitment to pursue suspects even as the number of terrorist attacks in Indonesia has fallen.

The pursuit of suspects related to the Bali bombings has also continued, most recently resulting in the arrest of Aris Sumarsono, 58, whose real name is Arif Sunarso but is better known as Zulkarnaen, in December 2020. The court sentenced him to 15 years in prison for his role. Indonesian authorities also suspect him to be the mastermind of several other attacks in the country.

In August, Indonesia’s government considered granting an early prison release to the bombmaker in the Bali attack, Hisyam bin Alizein, 55, better known by his alias, Umar Patek, who has also been identified as a leading member of Jemaah Islamiyah.

Indonesian authorities said Patek was an example of successful efforts to reform convicted terrorists and that they planned to use him to influence others not to commit terrorist acts. But the Australian government has expressed its strong opposition to his possible release.

McGuirk reported from Canberra, Australia.

The Bali bombings killed 202 people and changed Australia. It's a night those who survived will never forget

It was a typical Saturday night in Bali and the Kuta Beach tourist strip was heaving with people.

Read the story in Bahasa Indonesia

Locals and foreigners — including many Australians — waded through the main street of Jalan Legian, leaving crowded restaurants and pouring into bustling bars. 

A steady line of cars passed by, offering passengers a glimpse into Bali's party scene from the safety of their tinted windows.

It was October 12, 2002, and the night was just getting started.

Warning: This article contains graphic accounts of the Bali bombings and the immediate aftermath of the scene in Kuta Beach, including descriptions of injured people and the dead.

No-one would expect that hours later, about 11pm, a bomb would explode inside the popular Paddy's Irish Pub.

Or that mere moments later, a second, bigger bomb would go off in a van across the road, outside the Sari Club.

Or that a third bomb would detonate about 45 seconds later near the US consulate.

In this oral history, we hear from Australian and Balinese survivors, former and current Australian Federal Police officers, a journalist and a terrorism expert.

Together, they weave together the story of the Bali bombings, the single-largest loss of Australian life in an act of terror.

(All interviews have been condensed and edited for clarity.)

A night out

Locals and tourists, particularly Australian sporting teams celebrating their end-of-season break, had flocked to Kuta Beach that day to enjoy the warm weather, idyllic beaches and vibrant party scene.

ALAN ATKINSON, former ABC journalist and one of the first reporters on the scene : It was Saturday evening. It was very colourful and noisy and warm in Kuta. We'd eaten at the nightclubs, near the famous Poppies lane, and then we walked along Kuta beach at sunset back to our hotel.

ERIK DE HAART, Australia survivor and member of the Coogee Dolphins rugby league club : I was sharing a room with Shane Foley and Gerard Yeo and we got [to the hotel] about 4pm. We had a quick swim, got ready, went to a place for dinner and then made our way to the Sari Club.

GLEN MCEWAN, AFP senior liaison officer deployed in Indonesia in 2002 :  I flew into Bali [that] afternoon due to a people-smuggling matter that I had to attend to as part of my duties. [My colleague] Mick [Keelty] was already in Bali. Two [other AFP] officers had arrived [that day] and Mick and I met with them in the early evening.

Normally, we would have gone down to Paddy's Bar there … but the two officers had only just stepped off the plane, so they didn't want to. They were lazy, in my view, but that probably saved their life.

So we [went to] a restaurant bar about 400 metres [away], just at the top end of Jalan Legian.

THIOLINA F MARAPAUNG,  Indonesian survivor and head of the Bali Bombing Victims' Association, Isana Dewata Foundation : My two friends suggested [we] drive past [Jalan] Legian because it was Saturday night [and we wanted] to check out how Kuta was during night time.

Once we entered [the] street, the traffic was really jammed from the start, so the car was moving very slowly.

ANDREW CSABI, Australian survivor : At 10:30pm, we decided to go into the Sari Club. [It] was packed with people and security at the front gates, just as normal.

I met up with Jodie Cearns … I didn't know she'd come back from Europe. We laughed and hugged and I said 'I'm gonna grab a drink and then I'll come down and see you at the front there'. And that was it. I never saw her again.

DEWA KETUT RUDITAWIDYA PUTRA (nickname Deci), Indonesian survivor :  We were stuck [in a car] in a traffic jam and our position was right in front of the Sari Club's door. There were a lot of people on the street. Many foreign tourists were chatting.

DE HAART: We were just getting ready to create havoc, when havoc was created for us.

The lights went out

Two bombs went off in Jalan Legian shortly after 11pm. One was detonated by a suicide bomber inside Paddy's Bar and seconds later, another bomb was set off in a car outside the Sari Club.

DECI : People were clapping because they thought there was a party in Paddy's. Suddenly the lights went off. It was dark. A few seconds later, a massive explosion happened. At the time, I was in a daze. I could feel the car lift up off the ground. Then I was out.

CSABI : It's like one of those large, six-foot gas cylinders blowing up right next to you, exploding. I had this massive hard thump in my chest and I was just knocked out instantly.

I can only imagine I was thrown quite a few metres because when I woke up, I didn't think I was in the same place when that bomb went off. The experience I had was a split-second one, a microsecond.

I can remember the filthy stench of chloride and a napalm smell. It was horrible. I've never smelled that before.

DE HAART : I was in a music store [making my way down Poppies Lane after helping a friend get home] and all of a sudden there was a dull thud, the lights flickered and went out.

I raced outside — as did everyone who was in the club — to see what was going on. I thought a gas canister or something had exploded. You're in Bali, you don't think it's going to be a terrorist or even a bomb.

And the sky was lit up with this big orange glow, which is strange because all the lights are out. And then I thought 'oh shit, that looks like it's near the Sari Club.' 

'Ground Zero'

The two bombs gutted nearby buildings, engulfing the street in flames and leaving a 1-metre-deep crater in front of the Sari Club.

MCEWAN : [From the restaurant] we saw an inferno in the distance. It was towards Jalan Legian but … the inferno was that broad we thought it could have been our hotel [near Kuta Beach].

… We went to investigate [the hotel first] and then worked our way towards what ended up being 'Ground Zero'.

DE HAART: I started making my way down Poppies Lane and, as I got closer to the front, there were people running, getting away from the flames.

The first lot just had their clothes on. The second lot were bleeding and had their clothes blown off them. And then as I got closer, the sights got worse.

I turned around the corner. And, on the right-hand side, Paddy's Bar was in flames. People [were] staggering out of that. I looked to the left where the Sari Club was, and it was just absolute chaos.

CSABI : I can't understand what goes through your mind there except when I woke up, I was just looking down.

My left leg, it was at right angles, and my right foot, my toes were missing. So I did the only thing I could do and that was to crawl away from the heat. The whole nightclub was engulfed in flames.

MCEWAN : As we were running up Poppies Lane, people were running towards us and away from what they had already experienced. We're talking not a short amount of time after the blast.

Then when we entered onto the Jalan Legian, right outside Paddy's Bar, there was hundreds of people … Just chaos. You can imagine whatever hell is like, it must be something like that.

DE HAART: People wandering around, people in a state of shock.

There were people bleeding everywhere, or people had their clothes blown off and they're trying to jump over walls to get out.

There was just bodies lying around on the ground … People are staggering … helping other people stagger out.

CSABI : I've gone unconscious a couple of times and I'm crawling and I remember girls next to me, they were just like flame trees, they're on fire. I'm trying to wave people forward and I didn't even know whether I was crawling in a safe direction.

But my instincts — fight or flight — kicked in and I just started crawling and then I crawled to the front of the club. I was informed that might have been six or seven [minutes] after the blast. Quite a few people had got out.

Then I'd gone and fallen into that crater in the front and that's when an off duty soldier, Anthony McKay, came to my aid. I refer to him as my first angel of the night.

DE HAART: I guess I was in a state of shock and this guy came up and he shoved a girl in my arms and said 'look after her' and he turned around and went back into the Sari Club. And that kind of galvanised me.

I saw two girls beside the road and said: 'Please look after this girl, I don't know who she is, but she obviously needs help'. And I turned around and followed him back into the Sari Club.

Angels walking through 'hell'

Many have praised the acts of heroism displayed by strangers on the night of October 12. Locals and foreigners worked tirelessly to save victims of the bombing, digging through rubble, offering aid and providing life-saving rides to hospitals.

ATKINSON : I was woken in the early hours by a night-owl relative in Sydney, who rang and he said there'd been some kind of explosion [in Bali] and were we all right? So I dragged myself out knowing I had to get to work.

I grabbed notebooks and pens and phone and water. I told the family I'd be in touch and I [left].

THIOLINA : I'm not sure how long I [was] passed out. I couldn't see — I could only see one dot of light in the distance. I didn't know what happened to my face, to my body, but I tried to call for help. 'Help, help.' I tried to open the car door on the left side, but I couldn't do it — I kept trying.

DECI : When I woke up my position was under the car's dashboard. My left arm was stuck in the car's door. The car was in flames. [My friends] Lina and Gatot were no longer in the car. I tried to get out … but couldn't open the left door. … The door on the driver's seat was open, so I got out from there.

Outside it was all fire. I couldn't really see, my body was covered in blood. I tried to keep calm and made my way to escape the fire.

MCEWAN : The way Jalan Legian is set up, [it's] a one-way street. So emergency service and vehicles couldn't enter that area. The only way you could help the injured was to put [them] on motorcycles for good Samaritans, who were taking them out.

DE HAART:  I just grabbed anyone I could see in front of me and [helped] them out. I couldn't tell you if they are male or female, child or whatever. I wasn't looking at who they were, I just saw human beings that needed help. And I just did whatever I could.

CSABI : [I was] put on a sheet of corrugated iron and four [people] carried me down Poppies [Lane]. [At some point] I said 'I need some tourniquets, I'm bleeding out here'. And they [applied tourniquets] … I'd looked down at [my] leg and I looked at my foot. I just started recognising the severity of it. I just knew I was in trouble.

I grew up in a Catholic family and I crossed myself. I'd sort of issued myself last rites, said a prayer. Then this lady took my details, I just said 'I'm right, you can help someone else'. I just thought that that was going to be the end for me.

THIOLINA : Suddenly, I felt there was a really big hand taking me out of the car — I'm not sure where I was taken out from, whether from the car's door or the window. That hand took me out and put me down.

I couldn't see anything, so I could only feel with my hands. I felt that I was on the pavement. Then, according to people, I ran away from the site. I kept calling out for help.

DECI : There was a woman helping me, telling me to come and that she'll call an ambulance. She sat me there, gave me water. She was trying to find me a vehicle to take me to the hospital.

THIOLINA : Suddenly, I met somebody who led me to his car, I don't know who this person is [but] he told me to get in the car … He asked who my name was in English. I gave him my mum's number. My mum couldn't believe I was there that night. That man took me to a hospital in Kuta.

DE HAART:  At one stage as I got deeper into the club, I saw — well, I didn't see — but the roof had fallen down and there were three girls who had been trapped in a corner by a burning thatched roof. And they were screaming out for help.

I looked at them and I think 'well, I've got to walk across this roof, about 20 feet of thatched roof, in flames'. Now, I'm about 120 kilos. I thought 'there's no way in the world I can get across this once, let alone go over and cross three times and carry a girl back each time'.

So I had to walk away from those girls and leave them to die. My head's telling me I'm doing the right thing, but my heart is giving it to me saying 'oh, you're a coward' … I'm still struggling to live with that decision 20 years [on].

Inside the 'war zone'

The local Sanglah Hospital was quickly overwhelmed with the number of victims. Some were later flown to Australia for surgery or for help with specialist burn treatment.

ATKINSON : Sanglah Hospital was like a war zone. The rooms were full of patients, the staff [were] completely overworked, people had horrific injuries and burns, many of whom would probably die.

DECI : When we got [to Sanglah Hospital], it was already so crowded, victims were everywhere. I didn't receive help right away … Finally a nurse brought me a wheelchair and told me to sit [and] she wheeled me inside. Once I was inside I had to wait still because it was still crowded. I remember all I could do was hold my arm — blood kept gushing out.

… Once they pulled me out of the wheel chair I don't remember anything else. I woke up and saw my mum next to me and she told me I had been unconscious for three days. And my condition was not good.

ATKINSON : Outside [the hospital], ambulances and trucks were arriving all the time, bringing more bodies. Balinese boys were hanging off the tree branches to one side, watching.

CSABI : I remember being put in the back of a ute and I'd been on a sheet of iron. And then I'd been informed … we were being taken to Sanglah Hospital. I remember them trying to keep us cool and trying to attend to our wounds and I had my first amputation in Bali on that left leg above my ankle and on my right foot, on my toes.

… Then I was on a stretcher on a tarmac there in Denpasar, and we're on a Hercules jet bound for Darwin.

THIOLINA : After [being turned away from one hospital] an ambulance took me to the army hospital in Denpasar. [When I got] to the army hospital I could hear the noise of a lot of people. I heard someone say that her eye lens are broken and they must be operated on tonight. … I heard it was so hard to … get IV drips. I had surgery that night.

ATKINSON : [At the hospital] I asked who was in charge and the doctor came forward with a huge clipboard, who'd been up all night and was white with tiredness … He showed me the names — many Australian names and addresses. I started writing furiously.

I asked him if he knew how many would be dead, not expecting him to know, and he just said 181 and one at another hospital, so 182 so far.

The hunt for answers

The bombings were an act of terrorism carried out by operatives from Jemaah Islamiah (JI), a South-East Asian group inspired by and linked to Al Qaeda. The militant organisation is believed to have started planning the bombing some 10 months earlier after ordering a new strategy of hitting soft targets, such as nightclubs and bars.

SHANE HAMMING,   an explosives specialist with the AFP's Australian bomb data centre who was sent to Bali : I first heard about [the bombing] on the news on the Sunday, I think. It was [an] obviously shocking series of events unfolding. The media footage was dramatic and horrible.

SIDNEY JONES, an expert on security in South-East Asia and founder and senior adviser to the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict: I think [the people behind the attacks] hoped to literally cause fear. It was more than anything else, the desire to show Westerners that no-one was safe anywhere.

NATHAN GREEN, a crime scene investigator with the AFP who was first based in Australia and then deployed to Bali after his honeymoon : There [were] two simultaneous investigations. It's important to realise that neither of these were AFP jurisdiction. Indonesian National Police had full jurisdiction over this matter.

But we were running concurrently, what was effectively a murder investigation [of] a terrorist bombing that killed 202 people, including the 88 Australians [and] at the same time, we were running a disaster victim identification [investigation of] those 202 people.

MCEWAN : Over time, we had different police disciplines [in Bali]. Out of that 100-plus police force that arrived from Australia, it was every spectrum of policing discipline. So you had your forensics, you had your investigators — the list went on —family liaison officers. All these [units] came together.

GREEN : This was an unprecedented event in any Australian law enforcement. A lot of the state jurisdictions have experience in smaller disaster victim identification investigations, but no-one had ever done anything of this sort of scale. So we were rotating people through there to upskill, but also to minimise the impact on the workforce.

It's quite a challenging thing to do. It's confronting. I was quite young, I was 25 at the time. I had been exposed to dead people before as part of my duty, but never more than sort of two or three [at] a time. So to see that sort of destruction was on another level.

MCEWAN : Initially, you had people trying to identify loved ones. But trying to explain [the inability to positively identify someone] to a victim's family, who are just caught up in the whole emotion, which you can fully understand, it was quite a task.

GREEN : On my first rotation over there, I was assisting on the criminal side of the investigation. All of my subsequent deployments were on the disaster victim identification side.

So I [was] attached to what was called the reconciliation team [which] looks at … data and tries to identify the dead and that includes DNA and fingerprints and the traditional sort of forensic methodologies as well.

HAMMING : From an explosives perspective, we were really keen to see both the Sari Club and the Paddy's Bar scene.

We were very keen to observe the area surrounding the scene, at some distance, because the way explosives work, they have a very characteristic signature of damage.

And that will help you determine what the likely category of explosives were.

[For example], a very high-power, say, military explosive or a lower-grade commercial explosive or a homemade explosive.

So we believe, and I still hold that, of the 1,000 or so kilograms of explosives [used], around 500kg or thereabouts, actually detonated. The remainder of the explosive material, in my opinion, definitely degraded violently. Hence, why we saw such a big fireball, such a big incendiary effect and why there was just such a horrendous type of injury.

GREEN: This was the largest bombing I've ever attended, even today … It was huge. To know that 202 people died in a single location was definitely sobering.

HAMMING : It wasn't a commercial explosive that was manufactured under strict manufacturing protocols and it certainly wasn't a military explosive that's manufactured to very strict protocols, and tested rigorously.

It was a homemade explosive that was mixed by people, who quite frankly, had no idea what they were doing. They were given some instructions on how to mix the components of the explosive and they did the best they could, I guess. But ultimately, it perhaps wasn't as good as it could have been.

And likewise, when they were following the instructions on how to build the bomb in the van, how to put the explosives in, how to connect the initiation system and how to construct the back of the van, the way it was constructed was not ideal, I guess, is the best word I'm prepared to use.

GREEN : It was fairly well-established pretty soon after the detonation itself, who the suspects were. I wasn't involved in that part of it, but I know a lot of my colleagues that I've spoken to during the investigation — and since — were travelling to all different parts of Indonesia at the time to suspected bomb-making or actual bomb-making factories.

HAMMING : All [the] information that comes through from investigations, and witnesses and so on, becomes critical to start refining the hypothesis and ultimately it became clear that they were, in fact, suicide bombs. There were people — the person in a van and a person [who] carried the device in Paddy’s Bar wearing the item.

JONES : Almost everyone involved in the Bali bombings in 2002 [were eventually] linked to the branch of Jemaah islamiah [JI] that was based in Malaysia, not in Indonesia. Jemaah Islamiah was a splinter group of an old Indonesian insurgency that was committed to establishing an Islamic State in Indonesia.

Face to face with the bombmaker

After compiling evidence on the design of the bombs, a group of AFP investigators were sent to Kerobokan prison to interview one of the bomb makers about its construction.

GREEN : I was simply going along to video and audio record the interview itself. So I was there as an observer.

But I can tell you at 25 years old, sitting three or four feet away from one of the Bali bombers — there's a couple of them, but there was one at the time — hearing them talk quite normally about their role in the investigation or their points on our design of the bomb and how we thought it had functioned was one of the most surreal things I've ever experienced.

I can still picture that day. Picture exactly where I was standing in the prison courtyard, the table where the bombers were. And they were just interacting and sort of trying to joke around [in] the way most of the other Indonesians I had interacted with at that time [did]. They were friendly, approachable, people.

Personally, I was angry that these people that we were talking to were the alleged perpetrators of this terrible, terrible crime. But I still remember what struck me is they were just so normal.

They didn't look evil, they didn't have shark-like eyes. They smiled, they laughed, they were just normal people. That I found, I think, at the time, difficult to deal with.

I don't know why you would expect them to look different from a normal human. But for someone to have been involved in something of that nature, against innocent people [who] were just there on holidays and enjoying a good time, for them to just look like anyone else that I'd walk past in Bali, it was really challenging to deal with.

[After the meeting] I remember all of us, the forensic team, the investigations team, the bomb data-centre specialists that were over there, there was a lot of quiet pride, I guess. The way that the device was put to the suspects, the way that we thought the device had been constructed, was almost perfect.

So I guess it was a vindication of the investigation and the intelligence effort that had gone in that far into the investigation that we've actually got it right.

By looking at understanding how the circuitry was designed, or what trigger mechanism was used, or even what explosive mixture was [used, it] can give us a really strong intelligence as to the training and understanding of who might have actually trained them.

And then, therefore, that can lead to what group was ultimately responsible, what terrorist group was responsible for the bomb itself.

JONES:  [The terrorists] were more inspired by two things [in the Bali bombing attack]. [First] the 1998 fatwa from Al-Qaeda, which itself might have inspired the 9/11 attacks, but which called on all Muslims to attack the Christian Zionist alliance, wherever and however they could.

And it was that fatwa from Al-Qaeda that was instrumental in inspiring violence from groups in many different places but including among a faction of JI led by Hambali.

The second factor that inspired the Bali bombing, which is also critical, is the communal violence that erupted in Indonesia, in Ambon in the Moluccas, and in Poso in central Sulawesi, in 1999 and 2000, where there was Christian, Muslim fighting, and Muslims were dying at Christian hands.

What that meant was that Muslims, who were involved in the combat in those two places, which included members of JI, could take that 1998 fatwa from Al-Qaeda, and say, 'this is happening in Indonesia too, Muslims from the Christian Zionist alliance are being killed by this larger group'.

So it enables the translation of the global jihad to a local context. And that was the reason that, for the first time, you had JI become involved in violence on Indonesian soil in a way that hadn't happened from the birth of JI until the eruption of violence in Ambon in 1999.

Twenty years on

In 2008, three men were executed for their role in the Bali bombings. Others involved in planning or carrying out the plot have been sentenced to time in prison or have died in the years since the bombing.

JONES : You don't eradicate terrorist groups completely. There will always be small, independent cells — some of whom are not particularly well informed — that continue to believe that they have a mission.

ATKINSON : I just hope they can protect what's special about Bali, which is that it is so different from the rest of Indonesia. It has different religious traditions, a whole range of different traditions [and] the people are different.

… There's an outward-going lovingness from the Balinese people that everyone who's met them appreciates.

DE HAART:  There's no such thing as closure. People don't get closure. Being a survivor for me is a life sentence …  Every time the families get together there's a hole where their sons were or their daughters were or their husbands …  and then in the last 20 years, there's been so much that's happened …  So it's difficult to move on. It's difficult to get past it all.

DECI : My family and friends didn't leave me and they would help me with my weaknesses, especially in the beginning, I really shut myself off from the world. I never did any interviews with journalists, I never wanted to.

This is the first time I [have done] an interview. So I have to start having the courage to speak up.

CSABI : In Darwin, with the support of my family, also friends, rotarians, businesspeople, I was also challenged to show some courage and have a go. I had some counselling sessions up there and it did make sense that what had happened to me was a tragic thing, but it's something that I could rebuild on. So I did take that on board.

It was funny because I always say that your positive attitude attracts positive results and it worked for me. I started getting healthier, fitter. I did my rehab in Darwin, so eight and a half weeks in Darwin, being the last Australian to get out of that Darwin hospital.

… I don't have any malice and anger, I can't let it into my life, because while I'm trying to do that, [being] angry and resentful, I'm not healing. So very early, I decided that I wasn't going to entertain those ideas of a lot of revenge [and] hatred. I'm not a racist in any shape or form.

… I'm acutely aware of my surroundings, I don't feel the same when I'm in airports, and don't feel as secure on public transport a lot. But I'm getting my life back. I've got my life back. And I'm able to really enjoy my life and I'm making every minute count.

THIOLINA : I had kept the piece of broken glass the doctor took out from my eye. Every time I opened the wardrobe I would cry. I told the psychologist everything.

I kept everything, all the articles. I thought it was good to keep them as documents of the history of my life.

But [the psychologist] said to get rid of it all — all the bad mementos from my history so I can live a healthier life. So I threw that piece of glass at Kuta Beach and the articles that my friends sent me, I burnt them all. All the pictures too I burnt them all.

And thank god, it was true, I felt healthier. And what's incredible is [I no longer fear] traffic jams.

DE HAART : One thing that does stand out to me is that so many people, so many Australians really stood up that day, even that night. You see photos of people walking out, staggering out carrying people.

There were people at the hospital, they were buying water and giving people water and they had no medicines left, so they were tipping water over people's wounds.

Doctor Billy McNeil stood up for 72 hours and just helped people try and look after their wounds, try and keep them alive.

Ladies that organised the hospital because you know, a lot of the Indonesians couldn't speak English or couldn't speak any other languages … I guess I'd probably love nothing better than to see some of these people recognised for the magnificent jobs that they did that night [and] the next day.

Reporter: Lucia Stein and Anne Barker

Photographer: Phil Hemingway

Editor: Lucia Stein

Additional photography courtesy of Reuters, AP and Facebook

• X (formerly Twitter)

Related Stories

News of bali bombmaker's sentence reduction 'kick in the guts' for survivors.

Suspected Bali bombing mastermind set to walk free, but Australians worry what will happen next

Cheryl Watson survived the Bali bombings and breast cancer, and knew 'the fear' when she saw it

• Human Interest

LONDON, England -- The tourist island paradise of Bali could take years to recover from the devastating blow to its image caused by the weekend bomb attacks, travel agents predicted.

Britain's Foreign Office advised Britons not to travel to Bali and thousands of Europeans as well as Australians and Americans were expected to cancel their bookings, with many on the island leaving straight away.

Drawing on the experience of a militant Muslim terror attack in Egypt's Nile resort of Luxor five years ago, British agents said tour operators would scale down operations in Bali in the immediate future and the full impact of the attacks could last much longer.

"It will take a couple of years to get back to normal," Keith Betton, spokesman for the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), told Reuters.

Bali, one of the world's most popular destinations, attracts everyone from jet-setters to student backpackers, especially from Australia. But its reputation as a safe haven has been shattered by the weekend blasts. ( Bali's nightmare )

"What I've heard from one or two people is October 12 is the new September 11," said Simon Calder, travel writer on London's Independent newspaper.

"People are thinking if tourists are targets for terrorists in places like Bali, then where in the world is safe? The short answer is these days nobody can be sure," Calder told Sky News.

European tour operators said it was too early to tell what long-term effect the bombings would have.

"Some travellers will naturally go out and cancel their travels to Bali on Monday," said Robin Zimmermann, spokesman for Europe's biggest travel group TUI of Germany. "But... there is a process of getting back to normal after a certain time."

Zimmerman said TUI had decided not to send any customers to Bali for a week as a precautionary measure.

"We are breaking the contract with our clients," Zimmermann said. "We are doing this as a measure until the foreign ministry issues guidance."

Markus Ruediger, spokesman for Thomas Cook, the European travel giant, said measuring the impact on travel to Bali would take more time.

Ruediger said his company had so far not received a flood of requests from its approximately 500 customers on Bali who wanted to return home.

"At the moment it's too early to say who will be flown out," he said. "We're in contact with the foreign affairs ministry and we'll decide about further flights to Bali in the next 24 to 36 hours."

Switzerland's biggest tour operator, Kuoni, said it was not taking Bali off its list of destinations, pending further information.

Kuoni would allow its customers to cancel trips to Bali without penalty while the 81 of its customers on the island could return early without additional costs, a spokesman said.

British tour operators said they were heeding Foreign Office advice against travelling to Bali. ( Full story )

"They will certainly be downscaling their operations in Bali, because clearly for a while it's going to suffer from an image problem," ABTA's Betton told Reuters.

Recovering from the Bali Bombings

In 2002, the bombing of two popular nightspots in Kuta, Bali, threatened to cripple the island’s tourism industry. Download our case study to find out how they recovered from this terror attack.

Download the Full Case Study

Late on the evening of Saturday 12 October 2002, two bombs detonated near crowded tourist bars in Kuta, Bali, killing 202 people and injuring more than 200 others. A smaller  device exploded later outside the US consulate in Denpasar, causing minor damage. The  victims of the Kuta bombings included 88 Australians, 38 Indonesians, 23 Britons and people  of 20 other nationalities.

The bombings had a devastating impact on Bali’s tourism industry, which was still recovering from the global travel slump which followed the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Foreign arrivals immediately fell by almost two-thirds, but after a brief revival driven by special promotions and discounts, fell again in May/June 2003 to less than half their normal levels. Some 40% of Bali’s working population was employed directly or indirectly in tourism-related businesses at the time. Within three months of the bombings, an estimated 100,000 people had lost their jobs, while many businesses required staff to work part-time, take unpaid leave or accept pay cuts.

Focus on safety/align messaging with actions.

The challenge facing the Indonesian Government was how to restore Bali’s reputation as a safe, attractive and culturally diverse tourist destination. The immediate priority was to reassure potential visitors, travel trade partners and foreign governments about the security situation in Bali. This included efforts to identify and prosecute the individuals responsible for the bombings; strengthening international intelligence-sharing arrangements; introducing new anti-terrorism laws; and increasing the highly visible police and security presence across Bali, particularly at seaports and airports.

Download Full Case Study

Integrate the Communication Strategy with the Recovery Plans

Meanwhile, the tourism sector directed its efforts towards developing and expanding markets and revenues. This included heavy discounting and promotions and diversifying into new markets such as China and India. There was a greater focus on the domestic market and on promoting niche sectors such as health, wellness and medical spa tourism; traditional Balinese cooking experiences; and agro tourism.

The new security measures were extensively promoted to domestic and international audiences. International marketing and public relations firms were also employed by various organisations to assist in the promotion and restoration of a positive image for Bali.

Campaigns and slogans like “Bali for the World” and “Kuta Karnival of Life” were introduced to emphasise the rich natural and cultural assets of the island and hundreds of foreign journalists and travel trade guests were invited on familiarisation trips. Dedicated websites containing information, promotions and regular news updates were also launched by individual tour operators and groups like the Bali Tourism Board and the Bali Hotel Association.

While the deep discounting and promotional campaigns drove an increase in visitor  numbers and average hotel occupancy (which rose above 80% by 2004), visitor  demographics changed. More domestic, Asian and budget Australian travellers visited Bali  for shorter periods and with lower daily spend, so yields were reduced. Further terrorist  attacks on major hotels in Jakarta in August 2003 and July 2009 also complicated efforts to  position both Bali and Indonesia as safe destinations for international visitors, emphasizing  the importance of being prepared to respond to the “next crisis”.

Timeline of the Bali Bombings Recovery

Foreign visitors fall by more than  devastating the tourism industry. More than 100,000 people employed in tourism-related businesses lose their jobs.

Brief recovery in visitor numbers driven primarily by heavy discounting. Average hotel occupancy stabilises around 40%.

Bali tourism sector focuses on developing domestic market and new niche sectors including health, wellness and eco-tourism.

Dedicated websites were launched by individual tour operators and groups including Bali Tourism Board and the Bali Hotel Association.. Visitor numbers recover, but yields decline due to shorter stays and different demographics.

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The human toll of the devastating bombing in Bali is still not known -- but other implications are already clear.

The British and American governments are telling all tourists to stay out of Indonesia -- and another country's tourism industry has been wrecked by terrorism.

The U.S. has been warning Americans against travelling to Indonesia for almost a year now -- there were bombings in Jakarta during the summer.

The U.S. State Department had issued a "worldwide caution" on 10 October, fearing just such an attack on westerners.

British travellers were also cautioned about parts of South-East Asia.

People have been warned about Indonesia in the past. But Bali is Hindu, and when that advice was given previously, Bali was in fact exempt, so we are looking at a very different situation now.

Indonesia may now face the same fate as Egypt, which lost half its tourist dollars after the Luxor massacre five years ago.

It took two years for Egypt to recover, and tales by frightened tourists on Bali are adding to the fear.

But some in the tourist industry are confident the bombing in Bali won't have a lasting impact.

Ray Webster, Chief Executive of European no-frills airline EasyJet, said the attack was "clearly yet another tragedy within the industry.

"We are very, very confident, however, that the security measures within Europe and the practices of EasyJet towards safety and security are first rate. We are very, very confident that going forward we will see very little impact from this terrible tragedy."

Travel advisories can of course be ignored, but travel agents say insurance will not cover areas where warnings are issued -- a problem that remaining tourists in Indonesia now face.

Published daily by the Lowy Institute

Bali 2002: When global terrorism first came close to home

An extraordinary consular response followed the deadly attack – lessons of crisis that would become all too familiar.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost twenty years since the night of 12 October 2002. The deadly impact of extremism will always be with the survivors and those who lost loved ones in the Bali bombings, and for many the approaching anniversary will be a challenging milestone in an ongoing, unimaginably difficult journey.

I remember only too clearly the call in the middle of the night letting me know, as head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s consular and crisis management service, that there had been two explosions in the Kuta night club district – a popular hangout for young Australians and other westerners. It was already clear at that moment that many innocent lives had been lost, but it took a little longer for any of us to fully appreciate the scale of the Australian crisis response that would be required.

The attacks were of course a crisis for Indonesia, which lost 38 of its own citizens in the bombings. The attack was a serious blow to Indonesia’s global reputation, revealing the extent to which Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian franchise of al-Qaeda, had developed an operational capability and following in the country. For the peace-loving Balinese the incident brought inbound tourism to a sudden halt, inflicting a devastating blow to local livelihoods.

It was a critical national moment for Australia, too. Of the 202 people who were killed that night, 88 were Australian citizens. Some Australian communities, football clubs and families were impacted very heavily by the tragedy. And the targeting of night clubs that were popular with Australians seemed to confirm that we were in the terrorists’ sights. The jihadists’ rhetoric certainly supported this impression: less than a year previously, Osama bin Laden had described our peacekeepers in East Timor as “crusading Australian forces on Indonesia’s shores” whose mission was “to separate … part of the Islamic world”. Australia was declared an enemy in what bin Laden characterised as “a war of annihilation”.

If there was any ambiguity left after the Bali bombings, it was removed by the bombing attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta in 2004. That slightly arrogant innocence we used to carry around the world with us – that belief that everyone loved Australians – was firmly consigned to the past in those first years of the century.

The scale and effectiveness of the Australian response said something about the role that our country can play in the regional neighbourhood. As I recount in my book The Consul , at some point in the early hours of 13 October 2002 it dawned on us that Australia, as the nearest developed country with a quality health system and the resources to manage a large scale aero-medical rescue operation, would have to evacuate everybody requiring medical attention, irrespective of nationality. The Australian Defence Force also evacuated Indonesians from Indonesia – rickshaw drivers, cooks and security guards for whom an emergency flight to Australia was an unimaginable and often terrifying prospect. The Australian Federal Police led and supported the disaster victim identification process that followed, and worked intensely with their Indonesian counterparts to hunt down the killers. Australian hospital staff in Darwin and other capitals were put under great pressure by the sudden influx of serious burns victims and other casualties.

DFAT played the central coordinating role in what was a truly national, long-running and exhausting Australian response. No television mini-series ( and one is about to be released ) could ever do justice to the work of the Australian volunteers, doctors, nurses, diplomats, police officers, soldiers, officials and many more who were involved. They worked on the sovereign territory of another country to mount a multi-dimensional Australian crisis response that covered emergency medical care, family support and counselling, disaster victim identification and a major criminal investigation. They worked respectfully with their Indonesian counterparts – from the national police to beleaguered local hospital staff and the young Red Cross volunteers who turned up each day to pack ice around unidentified remains at the makeshift morgue.

At the heart of all this were our consular officers – the men and women at DFAT who step forward every day when Australians overseas are confronted with serious welfare concerns, arrest, hospitalisation, or death. It was not their first major crisis. Most were veterans of the September 11 attacks, only 13 months previously, when global jihadism made its unambiguous arrival on the global stage. Many formed the backbone of subsequent crisis operations – the Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2006 Lebanon evacuation, Arab Spring, Fukushima, the downing of MH17 and so on. Their efforts over the decades form the central narrative of The Consul . The experience they developed supported enormous improvements in the service: the pro-active consular network of today has come a long way, and it is underpinned by technological capacities and social media outreach that were once unimaginable.

Over the years, our consular officers have contended with rapidly growing traveller numbers, rising public expectations on the back of the communications revolution, rogue governments playing politics with our citizens’ lives, a pandemic that left many of those abroad desperate to return, and a series of serious conflicts including the current war in Europe.

But above all else, it was the shock of global jihadism that drove the reform and modernisation of the Australian consular service. It led to additional resourcing, further professionalisation and training, the launch of the Smartraveller advisory service, and a more truly whole-of-government approach to crisis management. And the key, crystallising moment that spurred all this reform was 20 years ago, when global terrorism first came close to home.

Related Content

Indonesia’s uncertain climb up the nickel value chain

You may also be interested in, the “khaki cavalcade” dilemma when soldiers become public servants, economic diplomacy: pulling the right global value chain, how israeli elections fit – and don’t quite match – global trends.

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

Tourist numbers tumble after Bali bombings

The number of visitors to the resort island of Bali plummeted in October after suicide bombers killed 23 people, according to the Indonesian Central Board of Statistics.

The three October 1 attacks also hurt tourism in Indonesia generally, with overall visitor arrivals falling by nearly 31% from September. Bali suffered the highest loss, down from 168,170 in September to 86,800 in October.

Even before the bombs the number of tourists visiting Indonesia had dropped. The latest attacks took place as Bali was recovering from the impact of the 2002 nightclub bombings that killed 202 people.

• Asia Pacific

Most viewed

• Free general admission

Bali bombings

2002: Bali bombings kill 88 Australians

Members of the Australian Federal Police outside the ruins of the Sari Club, Bali, 2002. Australian Federal Police Museum

At about 11pm on 12 October 2002 three bombs were detonated on the Indonesian island of Bali, two in busy Kuta Beach nightspots and one in front of the American consulate in nearby Denpasar.

Shattering Australia’s sense of distance from the global reach of terrorism, the explosions killed 202 people including 88 Australians.

Carried out by Jemaah Islamiyah, a South-East Asian jihadist organisation with links to al-Qaeda, the attacks are the single largest loss of Australian life due to an act of terror.

Prime Minister John Howard in Bali, 17 October 2002:

So as we grapple inadequately and in despair to try to comprehend what has happened, let us gather ourselves around each other, let us wrap our arms around not only our fellow Australians but our arms around the people of Indonesia, of Bali, let us wrap our arms around the people of other nations and the friends and relatives of the nationals of other countries who have died in this horrible event. Australia has been affected very deeply, but the Australian spirit has not been broken. The Australian spirit will remain strong and free and open and tolerant.

Coogee Dolphins rugby league jersey 2003 commemorating six club members killed at the Sari Club. National Museum of Australia

Australians in Bali

Many Australian surfers began visiting Bali in the 1970s and it quickly became a popular holiday destination. By 2002, around 20,000 Australians – families, sporting clubs and other holidaymakers – visited Bali every month.

The attackers targeted a busy tourist strip on a Saturday night. The first explosion at Kuta was caused by a suicide bomber in Paddy’s bar and the second by a bomb in a van parked outside the Sari Club.

The victims were citizens of more than 20 countries, with Australia suffering the largest loss of life. Thirty-nine Indonesians, including many who worked in the tourism industry, also died. Hundreds more people were wounded.

Journalist Alan Atkinson, reporting live to the ABC Sydney news desk, 13 October 2002:

I’m standing outside Paddy’s or what’s left of it in the normally bustling Legian street in the middle of Kuta. Where the footpaths would normally be jam-packed with shoppers and Balinese offering taxi rides, there’s debris, glass and bodies. I’ve counted 50 bodies covered in white sheets lined up on the footpath as rescue workers toil through the ruins of the two nightspots. They’re still bringing bodies out. Both clubs, on opposite sides of the street, were packed at around 11 o’clock last night when the bombs went off. The force of the blasts was so great that for about a kilometre around the scene, plate glass windows of shops and big stores were shattered. And the normally smiling Balinese, who would usually be offering to sell you their goods, are standing outside their shops or watching the rescue effort in stunned disbelief.

Australian Government response

Australia’s response was led by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s consular and crisis management service and involved organisations including the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Defence Force and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

A complex aero-medical rescue operation to begin evacuating the injured to Australian hospitals was carried out by the Australian Defence Force.

Within hours, the Australian Federal Police mobilised Operation Alliance and staff working in disaster victim identification, forensic investigation, intelligence, administration, security, IT and communications began assisting the Indonesian National Police investigation.

‘Bali cry’ T-shirt produced after the 2002 bombings, when Indonesian tourism operators were devastated by the tragedy. National Museum of Australia

Everyday heroes

Out of the destruction came many stories of ordinary people making extraordinary efforts to help those affected. People who were injured in the blasts stayed to assist others and locals and foreigners went to the bomb sites to help.

Tourists with medical skills worked with Indonesian medical staff on the streets and at local hospitals. Australian and Indonesian consular and medical staff made extraordinary efforts to trace and assist those involved.

In 2003 almost 200 Australians received special honours for their bravery or assistance following the bombings.

Terrorism strikes close to home

News of the Bali attacks shocked Australians. Terrorism had never struck so close to home, despite growing regional unease following the 1999–2000 humanitarian crisis in East Timor and the Howard government’s alliance with the United States’ ‘war on terror’ after the 2001 al-Qaeda attacks in America.

Many members of Jemaah Islamiyah were eventually arrested for their involvement in the 2002 Bali attacks.

The security of the region was further threatened by the bombing of the Marriott hotel in Jakarta in 2003, an attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta in 2004 and another attack in Bali in 2005.

Sympathy card left on the steps of the Victorian parliament after the Bali bombings, 2002. National Museum of Australia

Homemade wreath left on the steps of the Victorian parliament after the Bali bombings, 2002. National Museum of Australia

Order of service from the National Memorial Service held at Parliament House in Canberra on 24 October 2002. National Museum of Australia

Memorials and commemoration

In 2002 ceremonies commemorating those who died and were injured in Bali were held across Australia. A National Memorial Service was held at Parliament House in Canberra. Many Australians left cards and gifts at their state parliaments in a gesture of collective anguish.

After the bombings, a memorial to those who died was built at the intersection of two streets adjacent to the Sari Club and Paddy’s bar.

Other memorials have been built across Australia, including at Dolphins Point in Coogee, Sydney. Each year, commemorative events are held at these memorial sites.

Memorial listing the names of Bali bombing victims, Kuta, 2011. Photo: David Stanley, Wikimedia Commons

Temporary memorial listing the names of those killed in the Bali bombings, Kuta, 2002. Photo: Simon Wedege Petersen, Wikimedia Commons

Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon Tim Watts MP, at a commemorative event in Bali, 12 October 2022:

Twenty years later, the pain is still felt. That night remains seared into the national memories of Indonesians, Australians and so many others. We will always remember those 202 innocent people – most under the age of 40, the youngest just 13 years old. Today, we pay tribute to those who died. We stand with the survivors, relatives and families and support them at this time. And we remember the valour and the quiet courage of those who saw the worst of humanity and responded with the best. So many words have been spoken, and so many tears shed, over that night. And we know that for those who lived through it, and for those who lost loved ones, none of it will ever be enough. Nothing can bring back the lives and the innocence that we lost that day.

Today, Australia maintains close political and social ties with Indonesia. The tragedy led to greater cooperative measures in transnational crime and counterterrorism, disaster victim identification and medical innovation.

Digital Classroom

Explore free online learning resources on Australia's Defining Moments Digital Classroom.

• International

In our collection

Explore Defining Moments

You may also like

Alan Atkinson, Three Weeks in Bali: A Personal Account of the Bali Bombing, ABC Books, Sydney, 2002.

Phil Britten, Rebecca Britten and Malcom Quekett, Undefeated: The Story of Bali Bombing Survivor Phil Britten, University of Western Australia Publishing, 2012.

Ian Kemish, The Consul , University of Queensland Press, 2022.

Patrick Lindsay, Back from the Dead: Peter Hughes’ Story of Hope and Survival after Bali, Random House Australia, Milsons Point, 2003.

Nicole McLean, Stronger Now: How an Ordinary Australian Girl Survived the Bali Bombings, Pan Macmillan Australia, 2012.

The National Museum of Australia acknowledges First Australians and recognises their continuous connection to Country, community and culture.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware this website contains images, voices and names of people who have died.

Call  000 if you need urgent help

2002 Bali bombings

Content warning:  This page contains content and imagery that may be distressing for some readers. Reader discretion is advised.

After the September 11 terrorist attacks in America in 2001, the world was on edge. People feared further acts of terror. The Australian government and law enforcement agencies had to learn how to deal with terrorism. They wanted to prevent it in Australia and throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

A handful of Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers were in Bali, Indonesia on the evening of Saturday 12 October 2002. Some were there to relax with colleagues. They were on leave from peacekeeping duties with the United Nations (UN) in Timor-Leste. Others were on routine AFP business in the region. They were investigating crimes with the Indonesian National Police (INP).

Two blasts, 45 seconds apart

That night, 2 bombs exploded in the popular tourist centre of Kuta Beach. The bombs struck Paddy's Bar and the Sari Club. A total of 202 people, including 88 Australians, died. A further 240 people were injured. A third bomb was detonated near the US consulate in Denpasar.

It was the biggest loss of life in Australia since World War II. Until now, Australians had felt somewhat insulated from global terrorism. But now it seemed like terror was right at our door.

When the roof became stars

AFP officers Nicolle Haigh and Tim Fisher were on leave from peacekeeping duties in Timor-Leste. They were enjoying a night out with colleagues at the Sari Club when the blasts went off.

Everyone was having a great night out. I’m not sure what time the first blast happened, but it was about 11 pm, and came from across the road. I remember looking towards Tim and Anthony who had also turned to see what was going on and saying “What the hell was…?”. Then all I remember was a huge ball of force coming towards us. I’ve been told there was about 45 seconds between explosions, but it felt like 10 seconds.

Nicolle Haigh AFP Museum Bali Bombings Exhibition, When the roof became the stars , 2003

We heard an explosion out in the street. It was the first explosion in Paddy’s Bar. It was very loud and there was a white shot of light. Within about 5–10 seconds I thought the world had closed down. Everything went black. There were little black stars, which were actually a roof that had fallen down across me and Nicolle. We were sitting only about a metre apart, but we couldn’t find each other. I tried searching through the wreckage until I did some serious damage to my hands. I finally got to a medical centre about an hour and a half later.

Tim Fisher AFP Museum Bali Bombings Exhibition, When the roof became the stars , 2003

It took 18 hours for Tim Fisher and fellow AFP member Frank Morgan to find out that Nicolle Haigh was alive. She was in the Denpasar Hospital. It took 24 hours, and a Royal Australian Air Force evacuation flight to Darwin for Nicolle Haigh to feel safe.

I was moved in the back of a ute to Denpasar Hospital. I remember lying in the back as it sped through the streets of Bali, holding my hands in the air as they hurt too much to have them resting on anything. You hear about heroes pulling people out of bomb sites, but for me the heroes were the ones who raced around tirelessly in the hospitals making sure we were ok and trying to help in any way. On Sunday afternoon, Australian Defence Force members came to take us home. I can’t describe the emotions I felt; it was the first time I had felt safe since the bomb went off.

Detective Superintendent Michael Kelsey was 500 m from the Sari Club. He was having dinner with colleagues when the blasts went off. He and the then-Senior Liaison Officer, Glen McEwen, were in Bali to discuss 3 criminal investigations with their Indonesian counterparts and other AFP staff. They ran up Poppy’s Lane to the bombsite.

We could actually feel the shock wave from the bomb when it hit the restaurant, we were meeting in. We could feel the building shudder and vibrate. There were people streaming away from the bomb site as we were heading toward it, many of whom were injured and bleeding. There was shattered glass literally all over the ground, obviously from the shock wave from the bomb. When we got to the actual scene it was chaotic.

There were still flames in the Sari Club and Paddy’s Bar across the road. There were literally hundreds of people around the scene, a lot of whom had suffered injuries, non-life-threatening cuts and abrasions, bumps and bruises and that type of thing. When we got to the Sari Club it was a mess and there was just a lot of chaos and pandemonium.

Michael Kelsey Bali remembered , Platypus magazine, October 2012

Within hours of the bombings, Officers Kelsey and McEwen filed reports from the Australian Consulate-General. AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty told them help was 'on its way'.

Operation Alliance

The INP responded quickly. They invited the AFP and other law enforcement agencies to help with their investigations. This became 'Operation Alliance'.

The AFP sent a 14-person response team to Bali on 13 October 2002. This included specialist victim identification officers, scientific crime scene investigators and post-bomb-blast investigators.

The AFP set up a forward command post. This included:

• Bali-based investigators
• disaster victim identification (DVI)
• intelligence
• post administration
• communications.

By 7 am on Monday, officers in Canberra had set up an incident room. Over the next 10 days, AFP officers spoke with more than 7,000 passengers as they arrived back from Bali. They identified potential witnesses to the bombings.

Operation Alliance grew from the handful of officers in Bali that first night to more than 900 AFP staff working over several years. At the operation's height, 500 members were working on the bombings. This included up to 100 people based in Indonesia.

The difficult work of DVI and forensics

The first AFP officers at the scene in Bali triaged and identified victims. They worked alongside the INP. Using INTERPOL's DVI process, the team:

• transported all victims to the mortuary on Sunday 13 October
• identified 60% of the victims by dental analysis
• performed most of the DNA analysis at a 24-hour laboratory in Canberra
• identified and brought home all Australian victims by December 2002.

During the operation, Indonesian forensics worked closely with the international community of forensic scientists. AFP forensics played a major role. They worked on explosive residue analysis and DNA profiling. The team introduced new technologies. These included 3D laser imaging technology, which helped them document and reconstruct the crime scenes. They used the models in the review of witness statements.

AFP members also supported victims and families. This led to the creation of the AFP’s highly respected Family Investigative Liaison Officer program.

The human side of this detailed and difficult work, to identify victims, search for evidence and ultimately fight terrorism can be seen in the reflections below.

I tried to put up an emotional barrier there, and just stick with pure technical side of it, look at damage, stick with what I had to do, but if you let your guard down, it would shock you.

Shane Hamming, Australian Bomb Data Centre AFP Museum Bali Bombings Exhibition, When the roof became the stars , 2003

This isn’t only a crime against Australians, it is a crime against the international community and it’s a crime against Indonesia as well. So we have a lot of responsibilities, a lot of consequence flow out of all our actions.

Tim Morris, Counter Terrorism AFP Museum Bali Bombings Exhibition, When the roof became the stars , 2003

Our challenge and our goal, is to prevent terrorist acts and we have carried that ‘baton’ of responsibility well. To ensure that we do not ‘drop the baton’ we need to think about the unthinkable and consider the ‘what-ifs’ so we are in the position to prevent the next phase in the evolution of terrorism.

Steve Lancaster, National Manager Counter Terrorism AFP Museum Bali Bombings Exhibition, When the roof became the stars , 2003

Evidence and convictions

The AFP sent a 'Brief of Evidence' to the INP. This outlined the results of the Australian investigation. As well as leading DVI and interviewing witnesses, Operation Alliance:

• identified the make-up of the bomb
• found that a mobile phone was used to detonate the bomb at the Renon site
• analysed explosive substances and fingerprints on a motorcycle which led to a number of suspects
• helped trace the ownership of a van used at the Sari site, based on a unique chassis number.

The joint investigation identified some 80 suspects. On November 5 2002, just three weeks after the bombing, authorities made the first arrest.

AFP officers had sifted through thousands of pieces of evidence. They collated and cross referenced witness statements. This led to various members of Jemaah Islamiyah, a violent terrorist group, being convicted in relation to the bombings. Three people were sentenced to death.

Legacy and acknowledgment

The AFP's Bali response was rapid and professional. Our role in investigating the Bali bombings is firmly ingrained in the story of our organisation, our people and how we serve.

At its heart, Operation Alliance reinforced our already strong relationship with the INP. It allowed us to work together, change policy and achieve results. Operation Alliance became a watershed moment for national security in Australia. The nation dealt with terrorism on our doorstep. We grieved the deaths of 88 Australians.

In 2002, then-AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty said:

Incidents at home and abroad have brought changes upon us, but we have responded with firmness, with speed and with confidence.

Mick Keelty APM, AFP Commissioner 2001-2009 Australian Federal Police ‘The first thirty years’ 2009

The AFP learned lessons from the Bali bombings. We now have a dedicated focus on counter-terrorism. This has helped us uncover homegrown terrorist plots in Australia.

Twenty years on, to commemorate the AFPs involvement in Operation Alliance and its legacy, Commissioner Reece Kershaw delivered this message on 11 October 2022:

To our current and former members, please know that your shining devotion to justice, to grieving families and to our country has not been dimmed by the passing of 20 years. Your work all those years ago changed how Australians understood and valued the Australian Federal Police. You didn’t know it at the time, but you were creating a legacy that all of us here today are the beneficiaries of. Because of you and the foundations you built, the AFP has become a leader in forensics, disaster victim identification, family liaison and a partner of choice around the world for specialised investigations. You were the pioneers. Yesterday, today and every day after that, you deserve to stand tall. The AFP is in your debt, and we will forever stand tall next to you. Thank you for your service.

Reece P Kershaw APM, AFP Commissioner Bali Bombings 20th Anniversary Address 11 October 2020

We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. By continuing we’ll assume you’re on board with our cookie policy

How Bali Bombing Affects the Tourism in Bali

• Word count: 2173
• Category: Terrorism Tourism

A limited time offer! Get a custom sample essay written according to your requirements urgent 3h delivery guaranteed

Introduction As the third biggest industry in Indonesia and the biggest industry in Bali, tourism is an important industry that will definitely have such a big role in the country’s economy. There was 20% of Bali’s working population which directly involved in the tourism industry. Moreover, in 2001, there were 5.1 million tourists that visited Indonesia and most of them ended up in Bali at one stage. The importance of the tourism industry in Bali was disturbed by the first Bali bombing that happened in October 12, 2002 and causing 202 casualties which triggered a dreadful impact for tourism industry. The tragedy is called as the worst terrorist act in Indonesia’s history. It also became biggest tragedy experienced by the Bali’s provincial government since Bali had a dramatic fall in terms of international visitor numbers later on. At least 57 percent of number of tourists were decreased because the issuing of travel warning from countries such as Australia, America and also several countries in Europe. This became a huge loss for Bali since the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in Bali is predominantly generated from tourism.

Moreover, most hotels were collapsed due to the low occupancy. The negative images and growing concerns regarding safety served to undermine the tourism industry in Bali (Kalla, 2003). The decrease in the number of tourists also had spillover effects which reducing Indonesia’s foreign exchange income that also negatively affected the Indonesia’s economic recovery. After the bombing, Indonesia’s GDP in the fourth quarter of 2002 also fell sharply to 2.61 percent compared to the previous quarter. The tourism sector was also down as much as 0.9 percent. But in early 2003, GDP had grown by 2.04 percent return, including the tourism sector grew 0.47 percent. This paper signifies the impacts regarding the first Bali bombing that happened in 2002 on international visitor arrivals in Bali. Specifically, this paper will demonstrate how terrorism act can impact the image of a tourism destination and later on affect the number of the inbound tourism.

Research Questions How a terrorist act can affect an inbound tourism of a destination? In this paper, the author would use the impact of the first Bali bombing to the tourism industry in Bali as the case study.

Theoretical Framework and Methodology According to a Gallup Poll conducted for Newsweek in April 1986, 79% of Americans said they would reject an opportunity to travel overseas because of the threat of terrorism. Based on the fact above, the author finds that the theory that is suitable to the aforementioned research question is a theory that links between terrorism and tourism. This theory had been conducted by Enders and Sandler (1991) and Enders, Sandler, and Parise (1992). Although Enders and Sandler conducted the research on the negative impact of terrorism on tourism in Spain from 1970 to 1988, the author believes that the theory can also be applied to this case. On their findings, Enders and Sandler found a significant negative impact of terrorism on tourism in Spain. Enders, Sandler, and Parise studied a large sample of European countries during the period from 1974 to 1988.

Their findings proved that terrorist act have a bad effect on tourism revenue in Europe and furthermore causing potential tourists to change their travel destination in order to feel safer and secured. To understand more about the decision-making process of a tourist, the author finds that tourists are rational consumers and move through the decision-making process by weighing benefits against costs, as shown as in the next figure. Risks from terrorism at a destination increase the level of tourists’ perceived risks and so increase the cost of the experience, which then results in the rejection of which one perceived as unsafe (Enders and Sandler, 1991; Enders, Sandler and Parise, 1992). This causes a tourist to choose a destination which doesn’t have any security risks in order to feel more secure about the travel experience.

The author will use the number of visitors as an indicator of how Bali Bomb affected Bali’s tourism. This indicator is chosen because it’s commonly referenced to determine the level of tourism development. To limit the range of the datas, the author only compares the number of tourists’ arrival, tourists’ expenditure and tourists’ length of stay from 2000 to 2006. To be added, this paper also only comprises data from secondary sources.

Tourism in Bali after the Bombings

Data from the Bali Provincial Tourism Office showed that the number of tourists arrival in Bali was dramatically decreased in 2003 because of the bombing. The interesting part is in 2004, however, the number of tourists arrival was actually higher than the number of arrivals before the bombing. To be more specific, in January 2003 (three months after the bombing), the number of visitors only reached 60,836. On the other hand in January 2004 the number increasingly reached to 104,062, an increase of 71%. In February and March 2003, the number of foreign tourists were 67,469 and 72,263 people, while in the same month in 2004 reached 84,374 and 99,826 people, or a rise of 25% in February and furthermore, 39% in March. (Dinas Pariwisata Bali, 2010)

Although the number of visitors were quickly recovered, the length of stay decreased, significantly lower than before the Bali bombing. In 2000 and 2001, the average length of stay of foreign tourists respectively reached 10.97 and 9.48 days. While the length of stay of foreign tourists after the bombing in 2003 was only about 6 days. This occurred because of a shift in the composition of foreign tourists visiting Bali as shown as the figure below. (Dinas Pariwisata Bali, 2010)

Direct Tourist Arrival to Bali from 2001 to 2005 based on Nationalities The short-stay tourists causing a lower average hotel room occupancy rate. In January, February and March 2000, the average room occupancy rate in Bali reached 46.33%. This figure significantly dropped in 2003, to 31.87%. In January 2004, the room occupancy rate is still slowly crawling to31.41%. (Dinas Pariwisata Bali, 2010) As a next variable, expenditure per tourist per day, can also describe the level of recovery of tourism in Bali. In 2001, any foreign tourists spend an average of U.S. $74.38 per day. In 2003, the expenditure per person per day decreased to U.S. $ 60.95. This figure did not seem to improve until the first three months of 2004. This phenomenon for the expenditure was also associated with the shift in the composition of the tourism market after the bombing which dominated mostly by the short-stay tourists rather than the long-stay ones. (Dinas Pariwisata Bali, 2010) Moreover, the impact of the terrorist incident also affected the accommodation sector.

All types of accommodation saw a corresponding fall in demand, and occupancy rates in larger hotels plummeted from 74.8% on 11 October to 33.4% on 19 October; figures later reached 10% in certain instances (Dinas Pariwisata Bali, 2010). Restaurants, retailers and attractions also had fewer customers and the future of small enterprises was threatened. The livelihoods of individuals such as tour guides and craftsmen were jeopardised, including members of the large informal sector of hawkers and vendors (BBC, 2002a). Not only the hotels, airlines and agents are suffering, the taxi drivers, the garment, souvenir, food industries all suffer (TTG TravelHub.Net, 2002). The World Tourism Organisation (WTO) predicted that the island could be US$4 million poorer due to the terrorist attack (BBC, 2002b). Following the first bombing, the World Bank/UNDP (2006) estimated that as many as three-quarters of those employed in the hotel sector were either working reduced shifts or had temporarily been made redundant.

There were also flow-on effects to other tourist-related industries such as transport and services. For example, market traders, beach vendors and taxi drivers reported a drop in sales revenue between 32% in Pasar Badung and 71% in Pasar Ubud (Henderson, J. ,2003). The impact of the 2002 terrorist strikes on Bali and indeed Indonesia as a whole was immense. The downturn in tourism in the country had a devastating economic impact.Other tourist related enterprises in the informal sector were much worse affected. These include many small-scale entrepreneurs who ply their wares at Bali’s beaches and temples (Baker & Coulter, 2007). However, despite all these negative effects of the attacks in Bali, the island has managed to recover immensely in later years following the event in 2002.

Although tourism fell by 28% in 2003, it actually then rose by 50% in 2004, to a new record of 1.5 million foreign tourists. However, after the two bombings, tourists were more reluctant to visit Bali. For example, in 2002 and 2003, the number of tourists visiting Bali went down by 31% and 28% respectively. This, in turn, resulted in a rise in the unemployment rate and escalated poverty. Almost immediately after the bombings, 2,000 tourists cut short their holiday in Bali (The Straits Times, 2002) and 2,833 international visitors were recorded on 15 October compared to an average of 4,650 prior to the blasts (Jakarta Post, 2006).

Conclusion To sum up, the author’s analysis mostly support the findings of Enders (1992) which says terrorism really matters for tourism. It shows with the fact that Bali had a dramatic fall in terms of international visitor numbers later on in 2003. It is also in line with the theory that mostly, in the term of a tourists’ decision-making process, it will reject a travel destination of which one perceived as unsafe. However, in the case of tourism in Bali, the recovery was somehow quick since there was a big increase in the number of tourists’ arrival in 2004, even more than the number of tourists before the bombing happened. Direct impacts of the bombing are definitely the reduction in international visitor numbers and also visitors’ spending. The author also found a fact that there’s a significant shift from the long-stay tourists to short-stay tourists which visiting Bali. These direct impacts on tourism will also affect other sectors in Bali’s economy, such as foreign investment, national and regional income and also employment rate.

ABC Online (2003). Identification team fixes Bali blast death toll at 202. Available: http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s787419.htm.

Ali, S. (2008). The Impact of Terrorism on Tourist Destination Choice: A Case Study of Bali and Sharm el-Sheikh.

Baker, K., & Coulter, A. (2007). Terrorism and tourism: the vulnerability of beach vendors’ livelihoods in Bali. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 15, pp. 249–266.

BBC (2002a, November 19). Tourism in Bali. East Asia Today. BBC World Service News.

BBC (2002b, November 13). Tourism. East Asia Today. BBC World Service News.

Dinas Pariwisata Bali (2010). Bali’s Tourism Statistics. Available: http://www.tourism.baliprov.go.id/informasi/2010/12/statistics

Ellis, E. (2002). Ground Zero Kuta. Available: http://bulletin. ninemsn.com.au/bulletin/EdDesk.nsf/printing/AAE7B31E8155 0750CA256C51006

Enders, W. and Todd Sandler. (1991) “Causality Between Transnational Terrorism and Tourism: The Case of Spain”, Terrorism, pp. 49-58.

Enders, W., Todd Sandler, and Gerald F. Parise. (1992) An Econometric Analysis of the Impact of Terrorism on Tourism. pp. 531-54.

Henderson, J. (2003): Terrorism and Tourism, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, pp. 41-58

Hitchcock, M. (2001) Tourism and total crisis in Indonesia: the case of Bali. Asia Pacific Business Review. Vol. 8, pp. 101–20.

Hitchcock, M. and Darma Putra. (2005). Bali bombings: tourism crisis management and conflict avoidance. Current Issues in Tourism 8, pp. 62–76.

Jakarta Post (2006) Bali Gets Cash to Boost its Tourist Industry, Jakarta Post, 16 February.

Kalla, J. (2003). Mitigating against the social and economic costs of the terrorist attack on Bali. Promoting Equitable Growth, Investment and Poverty Reduction, Bali: The Consultative Group of Indonesia

Karyadi, N. (2003) Restoring Faith: Social and Economic Mitigation in Post-Bomb Bali. Promoting Equitable Growth, Investment and Poverty Reduction. Bali: Consultative Group of Indonesia

Konstantinos, D. and Ali M. Kutan (2003). Regional Effects of Terrorism on Tourism: Evidence from Three Mediterranean Countries. Journal Of Conflict Resolution, pp. 621-641.

Pambudi, D. and Nathalie McCaughey (2008). Computable general equilibrium estimates of the impact of the Bali bombing on the Indonesian economy. Australia: Monash University.

The Straits Times (2002, October 26). Occupancy at Bali hotels plummets to historic low. p. A12.

TTG TravelHub.Net (2002a, October 30). Domestic sectors in ‘solidarity’ for Bali tourism, [email protected] .

TTG TravelHub.Net (2002b, October 30). Domestic sectors in ‘solidarity’ for Bali tourism, [email protected] .

Wilks, J. and Stewart Moore (2003). Tourism Risk Management for the Asia Pacific Region

Wahab. S. (1996). “Tourism and terrorism: synthesis of the problem with emphasis on Egypt”. In Pizam, A. and Mansfield, Y., editors, Tourism, crime and international security issues. Pp. 175–202

Sonmez, Apostopoulos (1999). Tourism in Crisis: Managing the Effects of Terrorism. Journal of Travel Research. Vol. 38, pp. 13–18

Sönmez, S. and A.R. Graefe (1998). Influence of Terrorism Risk on Foreign Tourism Decisions. Annals of Tourism Research, pp. 112-144.

World Bank (2003). Confronting Crisis: Impacts and Response to the Bali Tragedy. Promoting Equitable Growth, Investment and Poverty Reduction. Bali: Consultative Group of Indonesia

World Bank/UNDP (2006) Bali: Beyond the Tragedy, Washington DC: World Bank.

Related Topics

We can write a custom essay

According to Your Specific Requirements

Sorry, but copying text is forbidden on this website. If you need this or any other sample, we can send it to you via email.

Copying is only available for logged-in users

If you need this sample for free, we can send it to you via email

By clicking "SEND", you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We'll occasionally send you account related and promo emails.

We have received your request for getting a sample. Please choose the access option you need:

With a 24-hour delay (you will have to wait for 24 hours) due to heavy workload and high demand - for free

Choose an optimal rate and be sure to get the unlimited number of samples immediately without having to wait in the waiting list

3 Hours Waiting For Unregistered user

Using our plagiarism checker for free you will receive the requested result within 3 hours directly to your email

Jump the queue with a membership plan, get unlimited samples and plagiarism results – immediately!

We have received your request for getting a sample

Only the users having paid subscription get the unlimited number of samples immediately.

How about getting this access immediately?

Or if you need this sample for free, we can send it to you via email.

Your membership has been canceled.

Your Answer Is Very Helpful For Us Thank You A Lot!

Emma Taylor

Hi there! Would you like to get such a paper? How about getting a customized one?

Get access to our huge, continuously updated knowledge base