Dear Everyone,
In the last few weeks a number of Balinese people have asked me what I think about the executions of the 2002 Bali bombers that finally occurred two days ago. What a strange question for an American. Can you imagine people back home going up to complete strangers on the street and asking them what they thought of the McVeigh execution? There seem to be so many people here who share and ask really personal things with little thought of argument or offense.
My answers are LAME but quite political. I know that most of the Balinese favor the executions. They still live with the fear of more attacks and the hatred of a large fundamentalist population within Indonesia. Bali is, after all, just a tiny Hindu enclave in a sea of Islam. I tell them that it seems like the Balinese need the executions to occur but that I'm concerned about making martyrs out of the bombers. This seems to relax the questions. I think they just want to find out if I am on their side or not. I do think they should have just kept them in jail. Why give them what they want? Plus, killing is bad karma.
Anytime I bring up the same subject with my coworkers or Balinese friends, the look in their eyes is one of pain and unrealized rage. I've heard the following: "Jawa people hate Bali." (In Indonesian) "They don't kill because they afraid." (English- referring to the politicians continually pushing back the executions.) "One more bomb and Bali finished. Nobody come here no more." (in English) "Fucking Muslims. They fucking die!" (In English) In one place, the man just clenched his jaw, shook his head and wouldn't say a word. With my coworkers, I am able to make the point that it is only the fundamentalists that are responsible and that there are plenty of good Muslims. They all quickly capitulate this observation. They are Hindu after all and rage is bad karma too. Plus, they know it is true, they just simplified their thoughts so I wouldn't get confused. We all divide our thoughts into bite sized pieces in order to communicate effectively with each other.
So what does it feel like to be living in a place that the U.S. and Australian governments have issued warnings about?? It feels completely fine. I live inland, at least an hour from the touristy beach community of Kuta, where the original bombings took place. The message is the same; stay away from big crowded clubs and large groups of people. Not a problem, I don't usually like scenes like that anyway. I visited a Javanese surfer friend at the beach in Seminyak the other day. He said that their community is very afraid and that they are avoiding the big clubs too. I'm just saying all this so that nobody, particularly my family, feels unduly nervous about my choice to be here.
Love,
Alex
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