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Bali tightens security for anniversary

Police stand guard as tourists pass by along a street in Kuta yesterday. More than 1,300 survivors and relatives of victims are expected to attend a memorial service under heavy security to commemorate the bombing attacks on October 12 last year at two Kuta nightclubs. PHOTO: AFP

Bali island is safe even if militants were planning more attacks in Indonesia and had built two bombs, a police general said yesterday, the eve of the first anniversary of nightclub attacks that killed 202 people.

Bali police chief I Made Mangku Pastika, who led the investigation into the blasts on the holiday island, said security was very tight as survivors and families of victims from around the world gathered to honor the dead from 20 countries.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard flew in for commemorative services scheduled for today, saying he hoped they would provide some comfort to the hundreds of Australians who are here. Australia lost 88 citizens in the attacks.

Many families have already made the pilgrimage to Bali's Kuta Beach strip, where Muslim militants blew up two nightclubs crowded with foreign tourists one year ago in an attack that put the spotlight on Indonesia's radical Islamic fringe.

Fathers, mothers, siblings and friends have placed photos of their loved ones or scribbled messages on a board stretching across a fence where the popular Sari Club once stood. Most have sobbed and held each other, even embracing strangers.

Australian June Corteen, who lost her twin daughters Jane and Jenny, 39, said commemorating the tragedy in Bali was vital.

"I think it's terribly important for me and my family so we can move on. It's going to be very emotional, I think there will be lots of tears shed, and lots of hugs," Corteen said.

Relatives of 23 Britons who died were scheduled to hold a church service at 6pm yesterday, ahead of the main commemoration being organized by Australia today.

Hundreds of police with automatic rifles and sniffer dogs patrolled Kuta. Fire trucks and police cars were parked nearby.

Pastika said militants -- whom he did not identify -- still had significant amounts of explosives and had built two bombs.

"The two bombs are not in Bali. In Indonesia, but not in Bali. They are still the same type, but their way of hiding them is smarter. These bombs do not contain much metal. So, our metal detectors are not very useful for them," he said. He gave no more details nor did he say where the information came from.

The Bali bombings were blamed on Jemaah Islamiah, the Southeast Asian militant group with links to al-Qaeda, and were the worst attacks since the September 11, 2001 strikes on the US.

Citing security concerns, Australia has said only those families and survivors who regard visiting Bali as essential should attend its commemorative service.

But Pastika said Howard's visit -- he will attend the memorial services -- should be proof that one of the world's top holiday destinations before the bombing was now safe.

"Why is he coming here if he doesn't think it's safe. Is he throwing away his life here?" Pastika told a news conference.

His comments underline the often sensitive ties between the neighbors, whose police forces cooperated extensively after the blasts to track down the militants who carried out the attack in the Hindu enclave of the world's most populous Muslim country.

Speaking before leaving Sydney, Howard said he expected much emotion at the event.

"But we haven't abandoned our essential values, we're still optimistic, adventurous, to a degree carefree, perhaps not quite so much as in the past, but nonetheless essentially an open, carefree, tolerant people," Howard told reporters.

Nearly half of Bali's 5,000-strong police force will guard the more than 500 Australians and other nationals here for the memorial services.

Pastika said there was no room for complacency as Jemaah Islamiah was still active.

Security has been tightened at hotels, but open-air bars and restaurants are still vulnerable. According to security experts, it is only a matter of time before Jemaah Islamiah strikes again in Indonesia.
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