As a defining moment in the history of both Indonesia and
Australia, much has been written about the Bali Bomb, the
suicide attack on two nightclubs in rollicking Kuta Beach
that claimed at least 200 lives and injured hundreds more.
To date, other books have told the stories of the tragic fates
of the fatalities, the agonizing struggles of burn victims
and the desperation of widows left without a breadwinner.
Now comes the so-far untold tale, the story of Kuta itself.
Though the bombs exploded in the heart of Kuta, not one permanent
resident was killed, or even seriously injured. But the economic
and social repercussions of the Bali Bomb are felt to this
day, exacerbated even more by the second suicide bomb attack
in October 2005. In Bali Blues, Jeremy Allan chronicles the
lives of Kuta residents whose lives were devastated by the
Bali Bomb.
As in his previous book, Jakarta Jive, Allan tells the story
from the perspective of friends and acquaintances as well
as his own. With a novelist’s eye for character description
and development, Allan brings us into the real-time lives
of Gusti, a Kuta-born, western educated hotel general manager;
Wayan Tama, a former surfer now fighting to maintain Balinese
cultural tradition; and Ketut, the beach boy son of an affluent
family.
Since fully half of Kuta residents migrated from elsewhere
in the nation — and the world — other major characters
include Leo, a Jakarta resident who abandoned his studies
for a military career to become a beach vendor; Ayu, a bar
girl struggling to support a family in rural Java; and Andrew,
an Australian who came to Bali thirty years before as a backpacker
and stayed on as one of the sizable population of long-term
resident expatriates.
As a resident of Kuta himself, Allan is drawn into the social
conflicts that arose as the economic trauma resulting from
the absence of tourists brought long-simmering social tensions
to the surface. Bali itself is in the throes of massive change,
only partly caused by the influx of tourists and their money.
The Bali Bomb intensified the social pressures which, especially
in Kuta, had been contained by both the wealth brought by
massive numbers of tourists and repression by the central
government. In the uncertain and stressful weeks following
the attack, old grudges and unresolved issues came to the
fore.
Nevertheless, a strong note of hope, courage, and resilience
is found throughout the book. Bali Blues shows how the traditional
institutions of social control — and the character of
the Balinese — prevented the feared eruption of communal
violence in Kuta during the miserable months after the attack.
Moreover, Allan’s sharp wit and eye for absurdity managed
to find humor during the darkest days, making Bali Blues an
easy and entertaining read despite the gloomy subject.
Though Allan focuses his attention on the Kuta community,
Bali Blues does full justice also to the gravity of the attack
itself. Allan relates the background of the fanatical form
of Islam that gave birth to the terrorists, and the open,
tolerant Balinese society that allowed the perpetrators to
operate undetected in their midst. The final two chapters
are an account of the days leading up to the attack, seen
through the eyes of both the terrorists and bomb survivors,
and a spellbinding, minute-by-minute reconstruction of the
final hours. Altogether, a riveting and eye-opening read.
Bali Blues by Jeremy Allan, Media Makara 2005, ISBN 979-99921-0-9,
250 pages, softcover.
Available for Rp125,000 at Periplus Bookshops in Bali Galleria,
Matahari and Discovery Plaza in Kuta, Made’s Warung
in Seminyak, and Ary’s, Ganesha, and Periplus bookshops
in Ubud. Outside of Indonesia, Bali Blues can be ordered online
through jeremyallan.com or mediamakara.com
For comments and suggestions, please write : pakbill2003@yahoo.com
Copyright@2005 PakBill
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