Bali bombing victims remembered on first anniversary of attack

BALI, Indonesia (AP) -- Weeping relatives gathered Sunday on the first anniversary of the Bali bombings to remember the 202 victims, celebrate life and send a defiant message to terrorists responsible for the worst attack since Sept. 11, 2001.

More than 2,000 people attended the morning service in a cavernous amphitheater on Bali island. The day ended with a moment of silence at 11:08 p.m., the same time suicide bombers blew up the Sari Club and Paddy's bar, killing mostly young foreigners -- including seven Americans.

Similar memorial services were held across Australia, which lost 88 citizens, the most of any country. In Sydney, several thousand mourners gathered on a wind-swept headland to dedicate a bronze sculpture to the victims.

The attack is blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional terror group linked to al-Qaida and blamed for the August bombing of the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta that killed 12.

"Yours is a loss that can never be recovered," Australian Prime Minister John Howard said in Bali. "We haven't forgotten you, we never will. Australia will never forget (Oct. 12, 2002)."

The service began with Christian hymns sung by Australian and Indonesian schoolchildren but featured elements of all five major religions.

Twenty-two candles, representing victims' homelands, were lit and the 202 names were read. The service closed with a rousing rendition of the Australian folk song "Waltzing Matilda" as mourners hugged and placed flowers at a wading pool.

Relatives -- some wearing black armbands saying "Bali United Forever" and others wearing shirts from rugby teams that lost players in the attack -- walked past portraits of the dead as they left the cathedral-like pavilion.

"It was so sad walking past those photos," said Saari Wedemeyer, a 19-year-old Australian whose friend was killed. "Australians were just here enjoying the island and (terrorists) took it away."

For many relatives, the ceremony ended a year filled with sadness, depression and lingering questions.

"It's an ongoing nightmare," said Robert Lewis, an Australian who has been unable to work since his 19-year-old son, Danny, died in the attacks.

"It's always shoved into your face. It's on the news every ... day. Hopefully, this will be the end of it and we can get on with our bloody lives."

Chusnul Chatimah, an Indonesian woman whose face and arms were badly burned in the bombings, was comforted by seeing so many survivors from different cultures and backgrounds.

"I feel the support here," said Chatimah, who was joined by 12 other Indonesian survivors. "I look around and see that I'm not the only victim."

Hundreds of police guarded the Garuda Wisnu Cultural Park, where the ceremony was held. The venue, dominated by huge statues of the Hindu God Wisnu and the mythical Garuda bird, overlooks the tourist playground of Jimbaran beach.

At yesterday's service, Indonesian Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was applauded when he said Jakarta remained an ally in the U.S.-led war on terror and would catch the five remaining Bali bombers.

"Make no mistake: we will hunt them, we will find them and we will bring them to justice," he said. "These diabolical men and their friends of evil simply have no place in our society."

Indonesian authorities have arrested 35 suspects and convicted 21. Three were sentenced to death.

Later yesterday, Howard laid a wreath at the bombing site and joined thousands for a memorial along Kuta beach, where surfers paddled out to sea and tossed flowers as the sun set.

The ceremony was intended partly to publicize the plight of the island, which has not yet recovered economically from the blasts. Tourist arrivals are down one-third from pre-bombing levels.

"Business is so bad," said Pande Oka, who plans to close his art gallery in the town of Ubud. "We still don't have many tourists coming from Europe or America. It's impossible to sell anything here."

Oka was among hundreds of people visiting the Sari Club site, which was covered by photos of the victims and notes to them from relatives and friends.

Across the road, a few hundred people gathered at a permanent memorial featuring victims' names etched in gold, surrounded by flags of the 22 countries and candles.

A moment of silence was held at 11:08 p.m.

"You can really feel them all here," said Spike Stewart, a trucker from Melbourne, Australia, whose 29-year-old son, Anthony, died in the attack.