In Reply to: Where is safe do you think? posted by Fiona on Sunday, 29. April 2007 at 10:01 Bali Time:
I think. I am not saying to anyone 'dont go to Bali'. What I'm saying is, dont be flippant, dont be naive and dont be misinformed. I agree with you, let everyone make their own judgement call, but dont be wearing your rose coloured glasses while making it.
I work with a woman whose sister was injured in the 2002 Bali bombings. Afterwards their family, who had long been associated with the surfing scene in Bali, went to great lengths to assure people that they should continue to travel to Bali, that the bombing was unlikely to happen again and that it would be safe. The family travelled to Bali to visit the scene when the sister was well enough. The Jimbaran bombing shook them, they say, more than the original bombing. As a family they will never travel to Bali again and regret advising anyone that it was safe to travel there. Though they dont know the people who were killed in the second bombing they feel respnsible for not warning them away. This is why I would never say to anyone that Bali is as safe as where I live. I can be responsible for my own life and the risks I take but dont want to be responsible for anyone else's decisions.
And to compare other terrorist acts is to compare apples and oranges in my view. The situations are different, the targets are different, the politics are different. And arent we talking about Bali anyway?