Bali Bombing Memorial Service held today

Bali Bombing Memorial Service held today....Sunday 12th October

A Memorial Service was held at dawn this morning in Perth to mark the 12th anniversary of the Bali bombings.

Approximately 70 people attended on what was a clear, still, but chilly morning

Emotions were mixed with the experience of what happened 12 years ago still very 'raw' whilst others re-affirmed a commitment to 'live a little better' as a mark of respect for the loved one s who were lost on that night.

Ross Taylor, President of the Indonesia Institute (Inc) delivered the main address and some excerpts from his speech are shown below.

Excerpts from Mr Taylor's speech at this morning's service..........

".... at a government-to-government level, relations between Indonesia and Australia should have collapsed as a result of what happened in 2002. Yet in their commitment to find the perpetrators of these bombings, the Indonesian National Police (Polri) and Australia’s Federal Police formed an unusual alliance that resulted in most of the Bali bombers being apprehended and convicted by Indonesian Courts.

This ‘odd’ partnership only happened due to an act of terrorism, yet it has endured, and resulted in a number of subsequent planned attacks in Bali and Java being thwarted in time to undoubtedly save the lives of many more Australian tourists and locals alike."

"The Bali bombings have also brought the Balinese people and Australians closer together rather than force us away as the terrorists would have hoped. We see that today, as millions of young Indonesians take to twittersphere to say how they detest the Islamic State and want nothing to do with people who wish to inflict harm upon their own community or visitors to their beautiful country."

"Bali in 2002 showed us the very worst of what can happen when fanatics take control, and today both our countries are better and safer because of the lessons learned from that experience."

"On a personal level people who have been deeply affected by tragedy, are often encouraged to ‘move on’. That’s not as easy as people would like to think. The pain and grief is very real and ‘raw’.

"Rather than seek to ‘move-on’ from grief, maybe we should open ourselves to ‘allow-in’ kindness and goodness? That we make a commitment to, in future, live a little better for having known the ones we have lost.

So as we pause to commemorate this event that devastated our nation 12 years ago, let us all make a commitment as a community to live a little better, to show respect and good nature in our daily lives, and to be more loving towards those who are important to us.

To do this gives some purpose and meaning to our lives, and truly honours the spirit of those who we lost 12 year ago."

ends

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