I for one, am fed up
and very, very hurt...
A friend of a friend, is among the missing in Bali. I didn't even know he was over there until today and it sickens me to know that this "terrorism" has reached out and touched me in my home. Not in some armpit of a country, like Iran, Afghanistan, Syria or Israel, but in my own home. I got the call when I got home and have been brewing about this since. I've been watching the TV news specials, hoping for a glimpse and then praying that I don't, all the time knowing that he's gone...
Imagine if this is actually an Indonesian Military action, delayed and interpreted as an "Al-Qeida" operation, which is a payback for Australia's (primarily) involvement in East Timor. That's an act of war, isn't it?? We really need our top Military Assets close to home, where they're needed. Rest them up and get them ready. We're going to need them sooner than you think!
Now the problem rests with the Balinese people, who are among the gentlest and kindest people you're likely to meet. Very friendly, relaxed and hospitable and now their very existence is shattered by the annihilation of their tourist industry.
Sure, some Western/Australian tourists can go over to Bali, spend a fortune, get drunk and paint a very ugly image. How do I know? I'm in the 20-30 age bracket, the most well represented age spread of the victims of this attack. But in the last 10 years, there has been a significant influx of Muslim, Javanese-Indonesians, who resent the lifestyle and the financial success that the Non-Muslim (Hindu Bhuddist) Balinese enjoy and their Western guests. They've been jealously looking on for some time, resenting, brewing and finally hating enough to do something like this.
Life is cheap in Asia, isn't it? We see it in $5 snuff films. We see it in the despicable human rights records of many Asian nations and we see it in the wretched politics of tenuously contained Military dictatorships, like Indonesia. To make an example, I don't hate Eskimos, but if I did, I wouldn't make it my mission in life to seek them our and kill them wherever they may be. Jesus, that's insane. How has the world allowed these
deluded *****s to preach "their" misguided, mis-interpreted gospel and to spread the word? I feel sick when I watch the news these days.
I have personally been to Bali 5 times. On my last trip, I decided I probably wouldn't return, due to the percentage of aggressive Javanese Indonesians that now occupy Bali, who in turn are now forcing the peaceful Balinese out of their positions of commerce.
Now I won't return, not because I don't want to, but because we're now a target. People tune out to events they don't want to know about, but after what's been going on in Aceh and even Jakarta for some 18-20 months now, the only way you'd get me to goto Indonesia, is if my Government put me in a Uniform and gave me a Steyr AUG... and I hope to hell that never happens.
Sorry, guys... I really needed to vent
My thoughts and prayers are with the victims, families and friends.