A paradise bombed

Featured in

  • Published 20030902
  • ISBN: 9780733313318
  • Extent: 160 pp
  • Paperback (234 x 153mm)

JUST AFTER THE Bali bombings of October 12, 2002, a colleague asked one of those curly questions academics sometimes get asked in seminars: ‘Has Bali’s place in the Indonesian imagination now changed; is it like New York in the United States after September 11, when it became part of America’s “heartland”?’ I thought the better question was about Bali’s place in Australia’s national imagination. Has Bali become more, or less, of an Australian “heartland” in the devastation of Paddy’s Bar and the Sari Club? How do Australians cope with the idea that our island of domesticated exotica has been made unsafe?

Before the bombings, paradise island occupied a special place in our mental map of the Asian region. Bali stood apart from the rest of Indonesia at the idyllic end of a spectrum in the Australian imagination, an extension of Byron and Noosa. The bombings targeted our sense of place, a paradoxical reminder that we are still in Asia, and Indonesia is our nearest Asian neighbour.

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

If you are an educator or student wishing to access content for study purposes please contact us at griffithreview@griffith.edu.au

Share article

About the author

Adrian Vickers

Professor Adrian Vickers is Professor of South East Asian Studies, University of Sydney.He has been carrying out research on Indonesia for many years. His...

More from this edition

Road maps without stories

EssayLAST YEAR, I walked through the ruins of a Crusader church high on a hill in Palestine.  A fire had burned outside this church...

The big Jesus

FictionWE MET AT work. I thought he was unattainable and I mostly felt like a young girl when I was around him. One day...

Stay up to date with the latest, news, articles and special offers from Griffith Review.