Delusions of faith (part II)
Further to Vyv's comment about the Bali Bomb (see the comments list in the side bar), here are some more thoughts on the motivations of the bombers.
Bali is the only predominately Hindu island in Indonesia, as such could be seen as a target by radical Islamists, however I cannot see why they would deplore Balinese Hinduism more than any other religion. It is more likely that Bali is a soft target and has the advantage that it has promoted itself as the moderate face of Indonesia. In a subtle way, Bali could be accused of presenting itself as a unique oasis of easy-going eastern mysticism in an archipelago of Muslim asceticism, which is slightly disingenuous. I was told a story by a diplomat recently about a pan-Asian tourism conference where the vice President of Indonesia, Yosef Kalla, was asked by a European politician if Indonesia found it tough competing with Bali. Kalla expressed his disappointment that people did not realise Bali is merely a province of Indonesia, and in fact Bali has been asked to stop promoting itself abroad as if it were an independent island state.
Perhaps the bombers want to remind Bali that it is just 3 million Hindus in a nation of over 200 million Muslims, however it is more likely that the bombers merely saw Bali as a soft target with the added advantage that some westerners will get killed as collateral damage.
For more authoritative information on the bombs, see Wikipeda, which says this:
Motivations for the bombings remain unclear. Some, such as the Australian Prime Minister, have suggested the attacks were intended to undermine Indonesia's moderate democratic government. Moreover, media organisations have suggested that the attack was planned to correspond with massive fuel price increases in Indonesia, so as to maximise economic and political damage. On the contrary, Dr Sidney Jones, of the International Crisis Group, believes that it was not an attempt to undermine democracy "per se", but rather an example of jihadist extremism: "I think they very much see the world in a black and white way, us against them, Muslims against infidels... [They see] that the infidels led by the United States as part of a Christian-Zionist conspiracy are out to persecute and attack and eliminate Muslims around the world, and therefore, [they] have to fight back." However, in common with the Prime Minister, Dr Jones believes the attack was indiscriminate and not an attack on Australians "per se". She suggested Bali was selected as the site of the attacks because there was less chance of Indonesian Muslims being killed, and there was "a chance of getting a few foreigners"
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