Bali has been inhabited since early prehistoric times firstly by descendants of a prehistoric race who migrated through mainland Asia to the Indonesian archipelago, thought to have first settled in Bali around 3000 BC. Stone tools dating from this time have been found near the village of Cekik in the island’s west.

Hindu Influences
Balinese culture was strongly influenced by Indian, and particularly Sanskrit culture, in a process beginning around the 1st century AD. King Airlangga, who brought much of Java under his control during this period formed the first royal link between Bali and Java. The courtly Javanese language “Kawi” was brought to Bali and was commonly used by the royalty of Bali. The statues at Gunung Kawi, near Tampaksiring, are evidence of an architectural link between Java and Bali in the 11th century. After the death of King Airlangga, Bali was considered semi-independent, untill two centuries later, when King Kertanagara of the Singasari dynasty became the new leader. King Kertanagara ruled only for a few years and after his death (murder) his son founded the great Majapahit dynasty (1293‚Äì1520 AD). While the Majapahit dynasty ruled most of Bali, the Pejeng dynasty centered in the modern day Ubud area, gained great power. In 1343, the current minister of the Majapahit, Gajah Mada, defeated the King of the Pejeng, Dalem Bedaulu. Then, Bali was brought back under Javanese influence.

above: Memorial statues, Gunung Kawi

When the Majapahit kingdom fell apart there was an exodus of intellectuals, artists, priests and musicians from Java to Bali in the 15th century, including the Hindu priest Nirartha, who had a great influence in the Balinese religion.

Contact with Europe
The First European contact with Bali is thought to have been when Dutch explorer Cornelis de Houtman arrived in 1597, though a Portuguese ship had foundered off the Bukit Peninsula as early as 1585. Dutch rule over Bali came later, was more aggressively fought for, and they were never ultimately able to establish themselves as they had in other parts of Indonesia such as Java and Maluku.

In the 1840s, a presence in Bali was established, first in the island’s north, by playing various distrustful Balinese realms against each other. The Dutch mounted large naval and ground assaults first against the Sanur region and then Denpasar. The Balinese were hopelessly overwhelmed in number and armament, but rather than face the humiliation of surrender, they mounted a final defensive but suicidal assault, or puputan. Despite Dutch demands for surrender, an estimated 4,000 Balinese marched to their death against the invaders. Afterwards the Dutch governors were able to exercise little influence over the island, local control over religion and culture generally remained intact.

Japan occupied Bali during World War II during which time a Balinese military officer, Gusti Ngurah Rai, formed a Balinese ‘freedom army’. Following Japan’s Pacific surrender in August 1945, the Dutch promptly returned to Indonesia, including Bali, immediately to reinstate their pre-war colonial administration. This was resisted by the Balinese rebels now using Japanese weapons.

On 20 November 1946, the Battle of Marga was fought in Tabanan in central Bali. Colonel I Gusti Ngurah Rai, 29 years old, finally rallied his forces in east Bali at Marga Rana, where they made a suicide attack on the heavily armed Dutch. The Balinese battalion was entirely wiped out, breaking the last thread of Balinese military resistance. In 1946 the Dutch constituted Bali as one of the 13 administrative districts of the newly-proclaimed Republic of East Indonesia, a rival state to the Republic of Indonesia which was proclaimed and headed by Sukarno and Hatta. Bali was included in the ‘’Republic of the United States of Indonesia’’ when the Netherlands recognised Indonesian independence on Dec. 29, 1949. In 1950 Bali officially renounced the Dutch union and legally became a province within the Republic of Indonesia.

Volcano eruption
The 1963 eruption of Mount Agung killed thousands, created economic havoc and forced many displaced Balinese to be transmigrated to other parts of Indonesia.

In 1965, after a failed coup d’etat in Jakarta against the national government of Indonesia, Bali, along with other regions of Indonesia most notably Java, was the scene of widespread killings of (often falsely-accused) members and sympathizers of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) by right-wing General Soeharto-sponsored militias. Possibly more than 100,000 Balinese were killed although the exact numbers are unknown to date and the events remain legally undisclosed. Many unmarked but well known mass graves of victims are located around the island.

Tourist destination
Starting in the early 70′, tourism started to bring big changes into the island of Bali. The big increase of numbers certainly helped pay for improvements in roads, education and health care. Though the tourism had effects on environmental and social issues, the culture stayed the same. In the 1990’s there was a vocal opposition to some developments aimed for tourism so this can indicate that the Balinese will allow some changes, but want to keep full control over their island.

[ part of source: wikipedia ]

The 12th of October, 2002, is a black date in the recent history of Bali. The bombings occured in Kuta, the heart of tourism in Bali. The attack was the deadliest act of terrorism in the history of Indonesia, killing 202 people, 164 of whom were foreign nationals, and 38 Indonesian citizens. A further 209 people were injured.

The Attack
At 23:05 (15:05 UTC) on 12 October 2002, a suicide bomber inside the nightclub Paddy’s Pub detonated a bomb in his backpack, causing many patrons, with or without injuries, to immediately flee into the street. Fifteen seconds later, a second and much more powerful car bomb hidden inside a white Mitsubishi van, was detonated by another suicide bomber outside the Sari Club, located opposite Paddy’s Pub. The van was also rigged for detonation by remote control in case the second bomber had a sudden change of heart. Damage to the densely populated residential and commercial district was immense, destroying neighbouring buildings and shattering windows several blocks away. The car bomb explosion left a one meter deep crater.

The local Sanglah hospital was ill-equipped to deal with the scale of the disaster and was overwhelmed with the number of injured, particularly burn victims. There were so many people injured by the explosion that some of the injured had to be placed in hotel pools near the explosion site to ease the pain of their burns. Many of the injured were flown to the relatively close proximity of Darwin and Perth for specialist burns treatment.

A comparatively small bomb detonated outside the U.S. consulate in Denpasar, which is thought to have exploded shortly before the two Kuta bombs, caused minor injuries to one person and property damage was minimal. It was reportedly packed with human excrement.

A report released on August 2005 by the US Indonesia Society described the events as such;

“The investigators were thus able to recreate the bombers activities. Amrozi, Idris and Ali Imron had simply walked into a dealership and purchased a new Yamaha motorbike, after asking how much they could re-sell it for if they returned it in a few days. Imron used the motorbike to plant the small bomb outside the U.S. Consulate. Idris then rode the motorbike as Imron drove two suicide bombers in the Mitsubishi to the nightclub district in Kuta. He stopped near the Sari Club, instructed one suicide bomber to put on his explosives vest and the other to arm the vehicle bomb. The first bomber headed to Paddy’s Pub. Idris then left the second bomber, who had only learned to drive in a straight line, to drive the minivan the short distance to the Sari Club. Idris picked up Imron on the Yamaha and the duo headed back into Denpasar. Idris dialed the number of the Nokia to detonate the bomb at the Consulate. The two suicide bombers exploded their devices. Imron and Idris dropped the motorbike at the mosque where it eventually attracted the attention of the caretaker”

The final death toll was 202, mainly comprising Western tourists and holiday-makers in their 20s and 30s who were in or near Paddy’s Pub or the Sari Club, but also including many Balinese Indonesians working or living nearby, or simply passing by. Hundreds more people suffered horrific burns and other injuries. The largest group among those killed were holidayers from Australia with 88 fatalities.

There were many acts of individual heroism. Kossy Halemai, a hotel manager, was singled out for praise with the award of Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2005.

Husband and wife team Richard B Poore and wife Gilana Poore who organised a makeshift triage area in the Bounty Hotel’s reception area were also singled out for praise with the award of Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2005 and 2006.

Three bodies were never identified and were cremated at Bali in September 2003.

The car bomb was initially thought to have consisted of C4, a military grade plastic explosive which is difficult to obtain. However, on 21 October investigators at the scene disclosed that the main portion of the bomb consisted of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer agent readily available in Indonesia.

Various members of Jemaah Islamiyah, a violent Islamist group, were convicted in relation to the bombings, including three individuals who were sentenced to death. Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, was found guilty of conspiracy, and sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment. Riduan Isamuddin, generally known as Hambali and the suspected former operational leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, is in U.S. custody in an undisclosed location, and has not been charged in relation to the bombing or any other crime.

Monument
Some time after the bombings, it was decided that a permanent monument should be built to honor the victims. The monument was built on the site of the destroyed Paddy’s Pub on Legian Street. The pub moved to a different location along the street next to Bounty Discotheque, and its name was changed to Paddy’s: Reloaded. The monument is made of intricately carved stone, set with a giant marble plaque bearing the names and nationalities of all those who died. It is flanked by the national flags of the victims. The monument is well-maintained and illuminated at night.

It was unveiled on 12 October 2004 with a dedication ceremony. The ceremony began with a Balinese Hindu ceremony to inaugurate the memorial. Mourners then laid flowers and other offerings. The Australian ambassador as well as many prominent Indonesian officials attended the ceremony.

Long Road the Heaven
In 2006, Long Road to Heaven, an Indonesian feature film about the bombings was released by Kalyana Shira Films. The film was directed by Enison Sinaro and written by Wong Wai Leng and Andy Logam-Tan. It stars Raelee Hill, Mirrah Foulkes, Alex Komang, Surya Seputra, John O’Hare, Sarah Treleaven, and Joshua Pandelaki.

It tells the story during three different times: the planning a few months before the bombing, its execution in 2002, and the trials in 2003 through the viewpoints of both the victims and the bombers. The story is not chronologically linear, starting with the explosion and then moving from time to time so as all three plots are culminated one after the other. At the beginning of each scene, subtitles tell the date and location of the scene.

The movie is based on the shocking true events but contains some fictional parts.

The 2005 bombings
The next tragedy; Bali suffers again from terrorist attacks. The bombings were a series of terrorist suicide bomb attacks that occurred on October 1, 2005. Bombs exploded at two sites in Jimbaran and Kuta, both in south Bali. Twenty people were killed, and 129 people were injured by three bombers who killed themselves in the attacks.

The Explosions
The Indonesian national news agency, ANTARA, reported that the first two explosions occurred at 6:50 p.m. local time, near a Jimbaran food court and the third at 7:00 pm. in Kuta Town Square. Other reports claim that the blasts occurred at around 7:15 p.m. At least 3 blasts have been reported.

One of the blasts is thought to have struck a crowded main square at central Kuta. Another two bombs exploded at warungs along the Jimbaran beach, one of which was near the Four Seasons Hotel. These areas are generally popular with Western tourists. Police later said they had found three unexploded bombs in Jimbaran. They had apparently failed to go off after the security forces hastily shut down the island’s mobile telephone network following the first blasts.

According to Indonesia’s head of counter-terrorism, Major General Ansyaad Mbai, early evidence indicates that the attacks were carried out by at least three suicide bombers in a similar fashion to the 2002 bombings. The remnants of backpacks and excessively mutilated bodies are believed to be evidence of suicide bombings. There remains also a possibility that backpacks were hidden inside the target restaurants before detonation. Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said that the bombs used appear to have differed from previous blasts in that most deaths and injuries had been inflicted by shrapnel, rather than chemical explosion. A medical officer’s x-rays showed foreign objects described as “pellets” in many victims’ bodies and a victim reported ball bearings lodged in her back.

The bombings occurred the same day that Indonesia cut its fuel subsidies resulting in gas prices rising by 125% and just two days before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and 11 days before the third anniversary of the 2002 Bali bombing. The attack came during the school holiday period in some states of Australia, when an estimated 7,500 Australians are believed to have been visiting Bali.

[ part of source: wikipedia ]