My sincere condolences to the Australians as they have lost by far the greatest number of people in this atrosity, my gratitude also to the Australians as I understand that the severely injured people (which will no doubt include some Brits) are being airlifted to Australia for treatment.

I have watched quite a lot of the coverage on television today and it is horrifying. One thing I found annoying is that despite warnings from our Foreign Office for Brits not to travel to Bali at present they interviewed people at airports in the UK saying a bomb or two was not going to deter them from their travel plans, not brave but very selfish and foolhardy in my opinion. I think they are going out there to gawk and to hinder the rescue operation, they will probably return from their travels complaining at lack of service and closed amenities.

Good point Jazz, as picking the one place in the country with the highest Muslim population in the world I believe (but I'm American, mind you) that didn't have a large Muslim population is strategically sound for terrorists. They can recruit people from not too far, insert themselves, then target a place with a large Western group present.

I still maintain that almost any country will have a rather unhealthy concentration on its own nationals...whenever you see a plane go down, you hear two French people were on it..out of 50 other nationals for example.

American coverage is probably distracted by the very real terror of the DC thing too. However, I always am struck by the lack of information about the rest of the world when I watch the news in the States.
NPR or national public radio is an excellent source though.


Are these the first holidays in Australia then? Is this the high season for visits there?

another update

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13 Australians confirmed dead and 220 missing. Among the other nationalities positively identified are three Singaporeans, two Britons and one each from France, the Netherlands, Germany and Ecuador.

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I'm glad I'm finding my news updates here. CNN (from Atlanta) reported at the last update that one American and five Brits were among the dead. The CBC (Canadian) gave a fairer count, though their number of dead seemed low. This is appalling. I am sure there is much confusion and the details will change by the hour. Very sad...........

Oh Jillian, that is chilling. It is bad enough that it happened but for people to die through lack of medical attention just compounds the horror. Earlier I was thinking that as so many Australians were affected it was akin to setting off a bomb in Sydney but of course it is not, if it had been in Sydney the hospitals would have been well equiped and medical staff called in from all over the country if necessary.

You Australians must be feeling a great deal of anger and sorrow just now.

I just checked the BBC website and they are saying that although there is only 1 Brit confirmed as dead they are pretty sure there are 5 or 6 with another 25 unaccounted for but who were seen in the area shortly before the bomb went off - so it could rise to about 30 Brits.

I wish to offer my heartfelt condolences especially to all of you from Australia. That such an appalling act could happen out of the blue while people are enjoying their holiday is horrendous and shocking, but that is what terrorism is all about. There is no doubt that this was a terrorist act of major proportions with a very specific target in a country easily infiltrated and with at least some Muslim groups more than willing to aid and abet such atrocities.

My heart goes out to all nations affected by this, including my own in a small way, but especially to you Aussies who have had a terrorist act unleashed on your doorstep. A lot of us here at FT already know how that feels.

I have been following the news coverage ever since the early hours of this morning and I will continue to follow the aftermath to see what develops.

That is the thing, Sue, about attacking a tourist resort ... there are going to be so many different countries involved whether the people be dead, injured or just there. I'm noticing it just with the Australians ... they are from all over the country, not just confined to one area.

There will be more Brits , of course, Sue. Many of the rugby players I mentioned as having come from here are Brits. As I said , we have a lot of missing from here in Hong Kong too. It is where we go, as soon as we can get away. We have a public holiday this week, so people have fled to there for a break as usual. It is devastating.

The French devoted much of the night report to Bali. One of our main channels here had a reporter nearby.
He said that when they knew he was French they took him to a french kid's bedside and he said, "how do you know he or she is French?" They'd found a passport miraculously in the pocket.
We were also thinking that part of the difficulty is when you go out at night to a disco, you always wonder whether to take your papers, or your handbag or your wallet, so how on earth would they identify the poor people if many had left their papers at the hotel or something?
THat is if the papers were somehow miraculously on you.
When I traveled through the region I used a wallet pack around my waist, stuck things that could be stolen in a handbag during the day. But when you go to a disco, you often don't want to be burdened by your papers.


Does anyone know if they're letting the Australian relief efforts help them? I've heard some reports to the contrary on the BBC this morning.

Haven't heard anything about that, Heather. About 100 of the more severely injured are being flown to Aust. hospitals (not just Australians) and there are investigators there also ... but I supoose that doesn't mean they're being welcomed with open arms either.

Sincere condolences to victims (of all Nationalities) for this horrific 'mass-murder'!

Obviously, all the facts aren't known yet, but as has been mentioned, terrorist activity is on the increase (although not widely reported by some news agencies), in all areas of the planet.

How can any terrorist faction describe thier actions as an 'act of war', when so many incidents involve ordinary people going about thier daily lives..............It was a nightclub full of young people enjoying themselves!!!!!!!!

Sickening!
What's the answer?

wez

I was in Sari night club having a few beers only a month ago. It's a bloody surreal feeling I can tell you!

Jazz had some good points. Don't forget Bali is the only part of Indonesia that is not Muslim. Infact the Muslim community is only about 5% of the population. Also remember there have been many bombings in Indonesia over the last 5 years, most of them linked to a terrorist outfit who's name escapes me. Bali was a soft target and a political target.

Here's my experience with Bali security.

In 2000, I tried to bring a box of computer CD's in to give away at a conference. Customs officials would not let me through with them. They claimed they where illegal. I can assure you they weren't. The customs officials wanted to confiscate them unless I payed an 'import fine'. We haggled over what the fine should be and in the end a million Rupiah got the box through. About $160 Aussie Dollars.

My second experience was with a policeman. I was attacked by a young Balinese boy with a knife in 1998. I used my best self defence and ran like a girl. I found a policeman and reported the crime. The policeman became very angry at me. I didn't understand why as he was speaking Balinese. Key words in english I could pick up were 'you' 'pay' 'fine' 'jail.' It cost me a few hundred thousand Rupiah to avoid detention for what I don't know!

With the officials in Bali it is important to remember that you are in their country and you play by their rules. If you have a vehicle accident in Bali it is your fault. It doesn't matter if someone hits you from behind. The logic is that you are a tourist, you don't belong here, if you weren't here, there wouldn't have been an accident. Always keep bribe money on you for these situations.

Bali, like the rest of Indonesia is totally corrupt. Security? It doesn't exisit. Bali is a 10 minute boat ride from Java.

I'd also like to say that I think the majority of the Balinese people are the most warming, friendly and spiritual people I have ever met. They aren't responsible for this masacre.

I'm absolutely certain this is all going to get a lot worse before it gets better. These murderers wont be bought to justice by the Indonesian goverment, they wont even assist foriegn investigators. You watch. It'll get ugly but it has to be stopped at all costs!

I haven't been watching tv or listening to the radio at all this weekend, but what I heard this morning was enough. Terrible! I sincerely hope investigations will lead to something, but like Bertho, I don't think the Indonesian authorities will be too cooperative.

My best friend's brother, who was a journalist, was killed in Indonesia (East Timor) 3 years ago. The people who shot him most likely were Indonesian soldiers, and investigation were very much slowed down or even made impossible by the local authorities. And this was "only" one victim. I cannot imagine what would happen now that hundreds of victims are involved...

The latest reports say that there were a couple of suicide bombers involved. I haven't heard of any one group claiming responsibility yet, but the JI seem to be involved.

A horrible crime. Despicable.

Terrorism always strikes the innocent. No one is going to be safe anywhere until we rout out all the groups who use these tactics. It is an international problem. We cannot allow terrorists to have any legitimacy or find any haven of acceptance.

Nothing justifies this sort of murder, no matter where it happens.

A terrible tragedy.

A friend of mine from the office was on holiday in Bali - in Kuta. No one here has heard anything and everyone here at the office is desperately trying to get in touch with someone - anyone who might know that she is ok.

I just watched the news and heard of all the terrible sights people had witnessed. I watched one young chap seeking news of his missing fiance and ...well, I'm just lost for words to describe how sad it made me feel.

Bruyere,

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Are these the first holidays in Australia then? Is this the high season for visits there?

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Bali is a very popular holiday destination for Australians all year round, but there are a number of reasons why so many Aussies were there last weekend....

It appears that most of the holiday makers were from Western Australia. It was the final weekend of the spring school vacation in Western Australia (and most other states), so for many it would have been their final night in Bali before returning home to Australia.

Winter sports (Aussie rules, rugby, soccer etc) have now finished for the year. A week long overseas vacation to celebrate the end of the season is the norm, with many clubs (both professional and amateur) choosing Bali each year.

Also, it's approaching the humid wet season in this part of the world, and many of the hotels in Bali offer very cheap accomodation at this time of the year.

Thanks for confirming that for the rest of us, I'd heard from one of our members from Perth already so wanted to know if it was still on.

I know that when I was in Perth, the flights there to Bali were very very reasonable but we couldn't manage to go there and the other Asian countries we'd chosen on our way to India our original destination. We went to two other places.

I guess since this board is one of the only places to interchange daily between the Northern and the Southern hemisphere, we often forget about the seasons being the opposite and the holidays not being the same.

For Americans it's probably like bombing Key West, Florida during the "Spring break" period.

What a horrendous crime. I hope your friend comes out okay, miaowamberg, and I want to extend my sympathies to all our friends from Australia and Hong Kong in particular. This is just evil. No other words can describe it - as was pointed out earlier, this is NOT an act of war. It is a criminal act.

Re: American media coverage - on Saturday night, in the Lansing area of Michigan, the bombing in Bali received significant airtime - perhaps about three-quarters that of the DC Met area sniper (I was paying attention since I'm from DC, and very worried about family and friends). It was also the lead story on cnn.com this weekend. I can't speak for other news outlets, but I thought you'd like to know that not all of them were completely self-centered.

One prominent story in our local newspaper was about four local lads who were in the Sari Club 24 hours earlier, these were all around my son's age and in fact he had been to kindergarten/school with three of them. That brings it close to home.

My deepest sympathies to all those killed or injured in this horrific attack. One of my colleagues was in Bali on holiday and we have been frantic for news of him and his wife and, thankfully, we have just received an e-mail saying they are both safe.

I echo all the posts so far - I cannot see any reason for the attack. If it's religious fervour then I can't condone that religion, if its political then I for one wouldn't vote for that political view point
The number of deaths hasn't been confirmed but the majority would have been oblivious of the "killers" objectives . The use of a "Target" of young innocent people cannot in anyway be justified and my heart goes out to all the families who are tonight mourning the loss of a family member or who are in the limbo of not knowing wether thier loved one was involved or not.

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With the officials in Bali it is important to remember that you are in their country and you play by their rules.

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If only some of our Politically Correct Countries in the West would adhere to this particular 'doctrine'...........eh?

wez

I agree, Wez.

Miaowamberg ... have you heard anything from your friend yet?
Thinking of you.