[far-east] yet more remissions for the bali bombers

Does anyone remember the Bali bombings? They probably didn’t grip the US and the UK quite so much as home grown disasters and certainly didn't grip the Indonesian authorities at the time, being largely an Australian affair and yet they were jolly well no picnic for the families and friends of the 202 people killed and scores injured in one of the worst terrorists bombings of recent times.

Just to fill you in, Paddy's Bar in the Bali town of Kuta, a very popular nightclub, especially with Australian tourists, was gutted by bombs on the night of October 12, 2002 and the aftermath was as you’d imagine. Following on some time later, the three main culprits, Amrozi, Ali Gufron, and Imam Samudra were finally convicted by an Indonesian court and are due to be executed this month.

Gradually, it came out that the cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was the holy man behind the planning and funding of the bombings. Though officially wanted in Singapore and Malaysia, Bashir held a news conference to deny any involvement and laid the blame at the door of the United States for the explosion.

Naturally, his execution was expected to follow by Australia and the US alike, in line with the capital sentences also passed on convicted Australian drug smugglers over the previous few years and in line with convicted terrorists the world over.

Not a bit of it.

The authorities delayed, hummed and hawed and then sought grounds to release the inspirational Indonesian leader and it became the sticking point between the two countries. For the Indonesians to lightly pass over the death and destruction and even, in some quarters, extol the virtues of the revered cleric shocked and nauseated more than one nation.

Eventually Bashir was given a nominal 30 months and after serving 26 months, his sentence was cut for last year's Independence Day celebrations, on August 17th.

This is a yearly Indonesian tradition, where convicted criminals are released early, on grounds of national forgiveness and closure and last year, of course, included Bashir. The sense of outrage outside Indonesia, especially among the families and friends of victims, was intense.

Now, one year on and it’s happening again. At least 10 of the original 33 had their sentences cut on Thursday and the families of the 88 Australian victims are again less than happy. But more, much more than the actual remissions is the whole Indonesian attitude.

There has never been any form of contrition either on the part of the murderers or on that of the authorities. Rather, it has been the direct opposite as in this statement:

"They are entitled to remissions because they have behaved well," prison chief Djaya said. "Those given remissions were convicted on charges such as robbery to help fund the attack and giving refuge to key figures. Four people serving life sentences for the Bali bombs were not given remissions. "

On the other hand, Schapelle Corby, serving 20 years for drug smuggling, was also given a two-month remission.

Tensions between the two countries continue to simmer and there is a forum here.

This was a compilation from the reporting of Ahmad Pathoni, Ed Davies and James Grubel.