INDONESIA: A Balinese Muslim woman whose husband was one of the 202 victims killed in the 2002 Bali bombing, calls for an end to militant attacks

Record ID: 357548

  • Title: INDONESIA: A Balinese Muslim woman whose husband was one of the 202 victims killed in the 2002 Bali bombing, calls for an end to militant attacks
  • Date: 11th October 2012
  • Summary: DENPASAR, BALI PROVINCE, INDONESIA (OCTOBER 10, 2012) (REUTERS) WIDOW OF BALI BOMBING VICTIM HAYATI EKA LAKSMI WALKING TO THE KITCHEN LAKSMI'S HAND CUTTING ONION VARIOUS OF LAKSMI COOKING VARIOUS OF LAKSMI BRINGING FOOD FROM KITCHEN
  • Embargoed: 26th October 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Indonesia
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVABJST38FY4FSKGLY8BAR708UEP
  • Story Text: For families who lost loved ones in bombings ten years ago, October 12 brings painful memories.
    Forty-two-year-old Hayati Eka Laksmi was a housewife before the 2002 Bali attack that killed 202, caring for her husband who worked at the airport, and their two sons.
    She said she remembered that night when she received a call from a rental car company, telling her that the car her husband was driving was caught in traffic outside one of the nightclubs. She said her husband and his two colleagues were killed in the blasts.
    Laksmi said it took a week for her to identify the body of her husband in a morgue.
    "I found my husband's body seven days after the attack. My mother found his body on day six and I came the next day to see and make sure that was the body of my husband," she said.
    As a Muslim, Laksmi said she still could understand the reasoning behind the attack blamed on the Southeast Asia militant group, Jemaah Islamiah.
    "I was in a very deep trauma. I was unable to tell hallucinations from reality. One day I was thinking that I had to end it, fight for my family. I want to tell the bombers to stop what they were doing. Let us be the last people who suffered from what they did. Stop acting stupid, stop making more children lose their parents, stop undermining the image of Islam because people would think that Muslims are terrorists," she said.
    Laksmi said she underwent counselling for six months while bringing up her two sons on her own.
    In 2005, Muhammadyah High School offered her a job as a counselling teacher, based on her university degree in psychology.
    "She gives guidance and advice for students to focus on their studies. Keep them away from negative thoughts that could lead to irresponsible acts that have been done by the Bali bombers that destroyed us," said Jauhari, the headmaster.
    At home, Laksmi's sons said their father's absence was still painful.
    "I miss my father, I wish he was here," said 12-year-old Tifaldi Iqbal Ramadan.
    Indonesia has been largely successful in containing militancy and there have been no big attacks on Western targets since 2009, when suicide bombers attacked two hotels in the capital, Jakarta, killing nine people and wounding 53.
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