What's in a name?
I cannot deny that I've never understood blind patriotism. To me it smacks of people desperate to prove that they love their country or city more than their fellow man. It also smacks of giving them the opportunity to decry those of another nationality or culture as something beneath them. "Un-Australian" is the term in this country I believe. Whatever that is. I would've liked to have believed that Australians by their nature are an inclusive people, that allow other people to be free to live whichever way they choose just as long as they are respectful of their fellow Australians and the laws we abide by. Sadly I sometimes find the opposite to be true, and opportunities for exclusion based on race or ethnicity abound. That it is happening right at this moment, and moreover that is calculated and it is callous, has me quite upset. I mean, what did the Balinese people ever, ever do to us?
I'm deathly serious, with no pun nor disrespect intended. What have the people of Bali ever done to any Australian other than be a welcoming and gracious host? If you don't believe me then please, at least give me an opportunity to explain myself. A little word exercise if you will. Can you repeat after me; "The Javanese Bombings".
"Abu Bakar Bashir, mastermind of the Javanese bombings".
"Imam Samudra, Huda Bin Abdul Haq, and the smiling assassin Amrozi, the Javanese bombers" (executed for their crimes may I add).
Sure, the bombings happened in Bali, but if we are to go around with this misnomer then suddenly we would have to start considering 9/11 as "The great American aviation disaster of 2001". How offensive would that be to the victims and their families? And yet we are comfortable to call them the "Bali bombings" when in reality, apart from the second highest number of casualties being Balinese, they are absolutely anything but.
This is not a matter of semantics. The vast, vast majority of the Balinese population are extremely peaceful and benevolent people. They study the Hindu faith, the major tenet being the worship and idolisation of the human body and life cycle. Not that I wish for faith to enter the equation, to mark the bombings as anything but the act of despicable people as opposed to "Muslim terrorists" is misleading and wrong, but the facts remain. For fear of what karma may bring, the beautiful Balinese would not hurt a fly.
And they did not perpetrate the Javanese bombings, that happened to occur in Bali.
Why do I care so much? I'm not sure. I guess I don't want the happy memories of our honeymoon besmirched by the garbage that is freely flowing on the radio, on TV, and on the web as I type. It's odd because as Kristel will tell you, I often have problems with large volumes of people. The honeymoon was no exception, I found myself wishing the other tourists of varying nationalities would shut the hell up so I could listen to what the wonderful locals had to say.
"The only attraction to Bali is cheap beer and knock off clothes," I hear those who have never been to Bali opine, "it's just a paradise for bogans". Funny, there weren't too many to be found on the pristine beaches of Seminyak. None to be found in the spectacular mountains of Ubud. In fact, and as I was warned, you find nary a "Westerner" (whatever the hell that is) there, and though I was also told it was likely to be an intimidating experience, I did not find this to be the case. Far from it.
In fact I had a good chat with one of the locals. We had a lot in common as it turned out.
In any case, the events of the last week or so and moreover, the reaction of much of the Australian media to it, have really cut me deep. I know that a fourteen year old boy was offered drugs there. I know that Dean Laidley and his family were attacked in a nightclub, and I believe him when he says it was unprovoked. And I know that it has come to light that a young woman drank a poisonous methanolic cocktail on one of the islands there. But I feel we need another lesson in facts and how they can be distorted to tell any sort of story they want to tell. You see...
"The Bali bombings occurred in Kuta".
"Dean Laidley, and his family, were assaulted in Kuta".
"The young boy was offered drugs, and caught buying them, in Kuta".
Kuta. The place where any travel agent worth their salt will give you the most warning about. The place I genuinely only lasted half an hour in the middle of the day before absolutely needing to get out of there. The first place in Bali to be inhabited by tourists hence the part of the island with lovely "Western" attractions such as night clubs open all hours, cheap prostitutes (until they take what they're really after, your wallet) and drugs. We sure did bring Western civilisation to Bali. Go us.
I'm not saying that because you go to Kuta you deserve to be bashed, casually offered or even hassled for the purchase of drugs, or heaven forbid killed in a bomb blast. Of course you should be allowed to go there and drink your cocktail at 3am no matter your level of intoxication without fear for your safety or that of your friends.
What I am saying, all throughout this post, is the point I hope to make is that bad people can do bad things to good people. Balinese. Javanese. Lebanese. Saudi Arabian. American. Australian. If you choose to hold grudges over a majority of good people for the actions of a few bad, if you choose not to visit the perfectly safe parts of Bali because of the scaremongering so many are fostering, if you choose to keep your mind shut when opening it would lead you to a whole new world of happy experiences, it is then that I truly, truly pity you.
But don't take my word for it. Revisit the bombings and ask the survivors' friends and family if they are deterred from going back to Bali. Are they what, they now make that trip every year! To not do so would be a victory for those that committed the atrocity. And read Dean Laidley's final words on the matter that even the Herald Sun could not suppress at the bottom of their article.
Those of the Hindu faith also believe in Karma, that every action will have its intrinsic consequence. I wish I was so strong in my faith, as strong as the Balinese. I have stated my belief that bad people do bad things to good people, sometimes for no good reason at all. Whoever coined the phrase is right. Karma, unfortunately, really is a bitch.
Whitey.
