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BALI TRAGEDY TWENTY -TWO YEARS AGO

Twenty-two years ago, on Saturday, October 12, 2002, I attended the wedding of the Vice President of PATA (Pacific and Asia Travel Association) at that time, Peter Semone, who married a Balinese girl, the reception of which was held in Denpasar, Bali. As a high-ranking official of PATA, many of the guests who attended came from the world tourism industry, including a number of high-ranking PATA officials, including the President of PATA at that time, Peter de Jong.

The next day, Sunday ?I immediately returned to Jakarta. Before leaving for Ngurah Rai Airport at 5 am, while changing clothes, I turned on the TV in the hotel room, and it was broadcasting breaking news that, on October 12, 2002, at around 23.00 WITA, there had been a bombing at Paddy's Pub and Sari Club on Jalan Legian, Kuta, Bali, followed by a third explosion that occurred near the United States Consulate Office, Bali. It was later discovered to have killed 202 people.

On the way to the airport I contacted the Minister of Culture and Tourism, I Gede Ardika, to convey what I had heard from the BBC, and we shared the tasks, I returned to Jakarta to handle the press and Minister Ardika headed to Bali. We agreed to meet at Soekarno Hatta Airport, Jakarta. to discuss the details of the steps that needed to be taken.

This bomb terror was very horrific and immediately became world news. After landing I immediately met Minister Ardika and reported what I knew from the staff who were still in Bali after Peter Semone's wedding last night. I suggested that Minister Ardika go to Bali with President Megawati's entourage to calm the situation and give the impression to the world of tourism and the world community that the government had been able to handle the situation and would immediately find the perpetrators. Meanwhile I was in Jakarta to accommodate the press's need for the latest information. Therefore that afternoon I held a press conference at the Ministry Culture and Tourism Building and I asked for the help of journalists that the situation had been controlled, and appealed to them to also help create conducive conditions.

After holding a press conference, that afternoon, Sunday, October 13, 2002, I held a meeting to immediately move with the first stage being to improve Indonesia's image that Indonesia is safe and worthy to be visited by foreign tourists from wherever they come from. In order to be able to directly contact print and electronic media, I set up a media centre, for which I asked for a free room which was then provided by the Hard Rock Hotel, Kuta Bali. Why was the hotel management willing to provide it for free, because it would bring benefits to increasing hotel room occupancy, especially for foreign journalists. And this was indeed proven, they stayed for several weeks to cover this event. For telecommunication facilities, I contacted PT. Telkom to help provide facilities and infrastructure so that broadcast media could broadcast live from Bali. As daily commander, I assigned Mr. Wardijatmo,?? official at the Indonesia Culture & Tourism Board (ICTB) ?along with several staffs as needed, and left for Bali that night. I asked for the logistical needs during this assignment to be prepared as well as possible. To overcome negative news, because CNN continues to broadcast images of body parts and fragments of injured victims, we tried to stop the broadcast of these horrific images so as not to add to the world's panic. I immediately contacted Ms. Stacey from CNN Hong Kong who has been a partner for advertising activities on CNN. I asked CNN to stop broadcasting these images. I am grateful that CNN understood and then stopped broadcasting the images temporarily so that the news could continue and be updated with the current situation at that time. From this spontaneous step towards CNN, I learned that in handling negative news about an event or a country, we do not need to do it openly or formally in writing. But it is enough with a very informal humanitarian approach. Why did CNN consider my request to stop broadcasting the body parts. This was because of a request from Stacey, their intern, because Indonesia is a client or partner of CNN in advertising activities. Seeing the enormity of the terrible bombing tragedy and the large coverage of the world's mass media, the Indonesian tourism world was under serious threat at that time. Moreover, it happened in Bali which is the heart of Indonesian tourism. It took a very hard effort so that it would not destroy the Balinese tourism? (because people were afraid to come to Bali) which would certainly have an effect on Indonesian tourism and the economy of other regions that at that time supplied Bali's tourism needs (including Central Java, Yogyakarta, West Java and East Java). Broadcasts from various electronic and print media continuously reported the bloody incident. If it continued like that, world tourists would be reluctant to come to Bali and Indonesia, especially since various developed countries immediately issued travel warnings to avoid visiting Indonesia. This could also endanger the plan to hold the PATA Annual Conference (PAC) in April 2003. It is possible that PATA would then move its location outside Indonesia at the insistence of participants who were worried about coming to Indonesia. Fortunately, PATA said that PAC would still be held in Bali. PATA President Peter de Jong, when asked by reporters the next day before his return from Bali after attending Peter Semone's wedding, said that in the near future PATA would hold two important events in Indonesia. In addition to the 52nd Annual Conference in April 2003, on 23-26 October 2002 it would hold a Tourism Conference in Banten, West Java. However, even though the Bali Bombing occurred, both events would still be held according to schedule. Including the PAC which would be held in Bali.

Of course, Indonesia must remain vigilant because developments in the news of the terrorist attack continue to roll. News about the number of victims is also continuously updated at all times. To ensure that the news does not go anywhere, the role of the media centre must be optimized. The existence of the media centre is to bridge and serve the needs of journalists for various telecommunications facilities (telephone, fax, internet, and communication satellites that are able to directly transmit news of the tragedy). By making it easier for world journalists to work, it is hoped that they can grow in empathy so that they do not go overboard informing the horror to the entire world. In addition, to ensure balanced reporting, we also invited Indonesian authorities who they could interview to the media centre for interviews.

We continued to try to explain to the world that Indonesia was trying to do something to overcome the disaster. As the Head of ICTB , I was interviewed by CNN and BBC which aired on October 15 and 16, 2002. Such communication continued to be carried out. When attending the Time Magazine Gala Dinner in Singapore for the tourism award ceremony where Indonesia received an award for Bali as "The Most Favourite Destination", I was given the opportunity to explain what happened and how Indonesia tried to overcome everything. I said, on behalf of the Indonesian Government, we convey our deepest condolences to the families of the victims, and express our gratitude for the sympathy that came from the international tourism community. We also did not forget to convey the latest update on the handling in Bali. After my speech, I received a long-standing ovation as a sign of their sympathy for Indonesia. After that, I held a press conference at the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore. In short, I explained that everything was under control and Indonesia was able to overcome the incident.

What is clear is that immediate efforts are needed so that the world can see that Indonesia has responded to the incident with all its capabilities and has immediately made improvements to build world confidence that the level of security in Indonesia is under control. Semone, who is still in Bali, was asked by PATA to help Indonesia and become part of various activities to restore world confidence. Newlywed Peter Semone, among others, helped with the media centre and formed the Crisis Management Task Force. The importance of the media centre's role was also evident from the presence of Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Australian Prime Minister John Howard who used it for a press conference. Also, a number of Indonesian Cabinets also used it when reviewing the scene.

The direct effect on Balinese tourism was the decline in tourists coming to the Island of the Gods, both foreign and domestic tourists. In fact, in a situation like that, the presence of domestic tourists is a buffer so that the decline in Balinese tourism does not really fall flat on its face. Before the tragedy of October 12, domestic tourists in Bali had long been less popular than foreign tourists. Some even said that they were like second-class tourists amidst the many foreign tourists. In fact, the number of domestic tourists visiting Bali is increasing as a result of the increasing standard of living of Indonesians. Even in?

Before the tragedy of October 12, domestic tourists in Bali had long been less popular than foreign tourists. Some even said that they were like second-class tourists amidst the many foreign tourists. In fact, the number of domestic tourists visiting Bali has been increasing as an effect of the increasing standard of living of Indonesians. Even compared to the number of foreign tourists, the number of domestic tourists to Bali is greater. Indeed, when viewed from the expenditure side, domestic tourists are indeed less generous than foreign tourists.

Then on November 29, 2002, the National Tourism Recovery Coordination Team was formed based on a Joint Decree of three ministers, namely the Coordinating Minister (Menko) for Political and Security Affairs, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, and the Coordinating Minister for Social Affairs. The team was chaired by Meko Kesra. (M. Jusuf Kalla) and I was assigned as the Daily Chairman.

From the government's perspective, the main obstacle to Bali's recovery that emerged at that time was related to the perception of security and tourism, so the focus was given to the security and tourism sectors. In the tourism sector, the tourism recovery target that was planned consisted of three stages. The first stage was the "rescue" stage (October-December 2002), the "rehabilitation" stage (January-June 2003), and the "normalization" stage (July-November 2003). The main indicator of recovery as formulated by the Coordinating Minister for Social Affairs ?was 5,000 direct foreign tourist visits to Bali per day, with a break-even point of 3,000 visits per day.

Before that, we had taken the initiative to create a number of programs. For example, creating the advertisement "Seribu Langkah ke Bali" ?or One Thousand Steps to Bali, which began airing in early November 2002 to encourage Indonesian citizens to vacation in Bali. Appearing in the advertisement were President Megawati, religious figures such as KH AA Gym, and the mother of one of the bomb victims from Bali. The holiday program was strengthened with an additional holiday program linked to the nearest holiday. Then a number of activities were held, for example the World Peace Music Awards (music concert), "Bali 10-K" (marathon race), tourism promotion both domestically and abroad. In addition, a number of international consultants were recruited, namely Gavin Anderson & Co (Australia) and Marketing Garden (Japan). Promotional activities abroad included advertising campaigns on CNN and promotions through important tourism exhibitions.

To build confidence that Bali was safe, various activities that were previously held outside Bali were temporarily moved to the Island of the Gods. For example, the marathon race initiated by PASI (Indonesia Athletics Association) figure Bob Hasan returned to Yogyakarta and was later known as "Borobudur 10K" until 2002. In 2003 it was moved to Bali again to help Bali's recovery. Likewise, many music concerts were held in Bali after Bob Bali 2002 by bringing in world musicians. After that, many parties were encouraged to hold various events in Bali.

In addition to such activities, there were actually sacred activities that also helped convince the world community. At the end of October 2002 when President Megawati stopped by the Bali Bombing scene after attending the APEC Meeting in Mexico, the President's desire arose to invite the victims' families to a Balinese traditional purification ceremony called Pamarisudha Karipubaya. Although I was not with the President and only read about it through the mass media, the idea was then realized.

Initially, we contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs because most of the victims' families were foreign citizens. So we collaborated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Bali Regional Government to organize the Pamarisudha Karipubaya event. With various efforts that were not easy, the activity was finally able to be carried out on November 15, 2002. At least the event gave rise to a sense of peace, even forming a positive image of Indonesia in the eyes of the international world.

On January 17-19, 2003, PATA held a PATA Board of Directors meeting in Bahrain. Although initially there was no discussion on the venue for the 52nd PATA PAC in Bali in April 2003, a surprising decision could be made there, such as not holding the PAC in Bali due to security concerns. We came to the meeting. The point was to convince the Indonesian government that it was continuing its efforts in the security sector to restore international confidence. Therefore, the PAC could still be held in Bali safely. In the end, PATA decided that the 52nd PAC would still be held in Bali.

Before the recovery efforts from the Bali Bombing terrorist attack were complete, suddenly the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) virus appeared which started in China in November 2002 and soon spread to several other countries. Until the end of 2002, it had not actually caused panic. However, in early 2003, after the victims fell, panic began to emerge. People began to worry if after visiting the affected country.

Although Indonesia was not directly affected, several important direct flight routes such as to Taiwan and indirect flight routes such as to Singapore were affected by the disease outbreak. As a result, tourism recovery efforts were disrupted again. The number of tourist visits to Bali per month until May 2003 was less than 80,000 people a month. This made the recovery of Indonesian tourism really face a series of challenges

Thank God, Bali is currently growing and developing, even the number of tourists is booming and it is time to manage it more professionally by selecting the class of foreign tourists who visit Bali because it is economically potential to support tourism in Bali and other parts of Indonesia.

(Excerpt ?from the Fast Learner Book pp. 319-337).