Reverberations from Bali
By V. M. de Malar
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
The videotape released yesterday by the Bali police shows an unassuming
young local walking into the Raja nightspot in Kuta, Bali, last Saturday
night. A minute later, the unidentified youth detonated a powerful bomb
in his backpack. The explosion destroyed the entire restaurant, killed
everyone sitting at surrounding tables, and deposited the perpetrator's
unmutilated head into a pile of rubble dozens of yards away.
At the same time, another two young men blew themselves up, among the
tables in front of nearby beach shacks. The co-ordinated suicide
bombings killed 19 beachgoers and wounded 120.
As you would expect from a popular international destination, the
casualties came from many countries: Australia, South Korea, Germany,
France, Japan.
Last weekend's attack serves as yet another reminder of our gruesome new
world. And we in Goa particularly have a lot to think about; Bali and
our homeland co-exist in the handful of famous vacation getaways, we're
linked by a web of tourism and real estate trends, connected via annual
migratory patterns established by vacationers from Europe and North
America.
Of course, India is not Indonesia. Our country is steadily surging, the
economy is set into a pattern of growth that's unlikely to change soon.
Meanwhile, Indonesia is struggling to keep afloat, amidst political
strife and a worrying trend of religious radicalization.
The world's most populous Muslim country is grappling with democracy, a
new development for a nation ruled by megalomaniac military dictators
since independence. Though Bali is a peaceful Hindu enclave, it has
been hit by this kind of terrorism before; an attack in 2002 killed 200
and destroyed the tourism economy. There were signs that travellers
were coming back this year, but last weekend put an end to that.
Goa has remained free of these incidents, even as other parts of India
had bloody episodes of terrorism. But the Bali suicide bombings serve
as reminder that the world really has changed, and threats have changed
just as surely.
Now, attackers are as silent as the unremarkable young man from last
Saturday night's videotape, the weapons are as ubiquitous as backpacks,
and the targets are exactly the kind of Western tourists who accumulate
in Goa in such numbers.
The beach shacks targeted in Jimbaran on Saturday are identical to our
beach shacks at Palolem or Candolim. The Raja restaurant destroyed in
Kuta over the weekend, and the nightclub blown up in the same town in
2002, are indistinguishable from our own tourist establishments.
Would-be terrorists have lots of exactly the same targets in Goa that
they went after in Bali.
There is also the Israel factor here, which undoubtedly
has our counterterrorism agencies quite anxious. A
large patch of our coastline around Anjuna has opened
itself to a permanent population of Israelis, whose
numbers are dramatically swelled over New Year.
In any given week, at the end of the year, you could find upwards of
10,000 visitors from that troubled Middle Eastern country concentrated
in Goa.
It's a fact that complicates our picture; if there is eventually some
kind of Bali-type atrocity in our homeland, it might well come about
because of this large expatriate presence. It's a remote possibility,
but nonetheless real, Israel has far too many enemies in the world for
us to be completely cavalier about the security risk represented by so
many of its citizens congregating in our small territory. Sabra
tourists have been attacked in Egypt and in Kenya, it's simply prudent
to be alert here in Goa.
But let us not overreact or get paranoid either. When it comes to this
issue, thankfully, Goa is not Bali, and India really is not
Indonesia (or Kenya, or Egypt). We're blessed with real calm, and Goa
is genuinely one of the most peaceful and relaxed places on the entire
planet.
The changing times we live in do call for vigilance, but we can
certainly go about our hospitality business as usual, without high
anxiety.
In fact, just as last year's terrible tsunami disaster resulted in an
unexpected tourism bonanza for Goa, this ugly terrorist incident will
most likely result in increased traffic here, for what is already
anticipated as yet another blockbuster, record-breaking, tourism
season.
Bali will bounce back, eventually. But last Saturday night's
meaningless bloodshed should remind us to count our blessings; there's
a lot going wrong with Goa right now, but we still have some things to
be very grateful about.
--
VM de Malar is a returned expat, who partly credits Goanet with getting
him more "entangled" in Goa and encouraging him to return early to his
roots. He was earlier based in the US and Europe, and has worked for
some prominent publications (including the *Earth Times*). Currently,
he also writes for the *Time Out* magazine in Mumbai. Send him your
feedback at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
