Another hate attack in Bali and yet people are still going there on holidays and being killed or maimed.

Bali – Definitely not on my list of travel destinations

After I wrote a blog last night I read the Sydney Morning Herald online and was astounded to read about bomb attacks in Bali. I thought I must have logged into the archives, but noted the date was right.

Dumbfounded is a word that could describe how I felt reading about the latest attack on tourists in that country. Disbelief is also a good word to describe how I felt reading that once again, Australians have been killed and injured critically in that country. It sure beats me how anyone would still be travelling there for a holiday, in spite of the cheap rates, after the horrendous events of not so long ago.

I read the story and then switched on the TV to the ABC news and saw the horror, with vivid pictures, of course. One man was being interviewed as he waited at the airport to board a plan to Bali for his holiday. He maintained he would still go because he didn't intend for the terrorists to win by scaring him off. Sorry if I missed something, but haven't the terrorists already won?

The perpetrators no doubt were suicide bombers so they can't be captured and tried. Now they are wiped off the face of the planet, their mates will take their places, and so it will continue. To die, for them, is an honour, and they believe their rewards in the next world will be grand. It's beyond the comprehension of the ordinary person to understand their thinking, and yet there are probably hundreds of thousands of them willing to die for what they believe in, and they will do just that.

So to the traveller who won't be stopped by fear I say forget it, find a new place to have a holiday. The terrorists don't care who dies, as long as someone does, so playing with fate isn't a very sensible option for any sane thinking person. And his death won't make a damned difference to anyone except for those that are left behind to mourn him, and those unfortunate enough to have to gather up his bits and pieces and try to identify who he was. Perhaps it's time our Government banned travel to Bali by anyone except those needed in the aftermath of the terror campaign. My thoughts, totally of course, so don't go blaming anyone else.

Vena McGrath