Bali, the symbol of a tolerant and alternative holiday destination and style for many travellers, has with this weekend's lethal bomb attack become the latest example of terrorist outrage.
Over 180 people have been killed, from all over the world. It is not difficult to understand why Bali should have been selected, since its beautiful location and easy-going atmosphere attracted holiday makers from so many different countries, including Ireland. This attack dreadfully underlines the threat such terrorism poses.
Bali is an exceptional island within the Indonesian archipelago because of its Hindu religion, cultural distinctiveness and ethnic composition. Over recent years the island has managed to avoid the economic collapse that has faced many other regions. The turbulent political and economic changes sweeping through Indonesia have cast millions of people out of work and thrown up fundamentalist Muslim movements opposed to its new rulers. Such movements are the principal suspects for this crime. There have been warnings by United States and Australian intelligence services that the Jemaah Islamiyah organisation has been planning an atrocity like this for several months, but little was done to stop it. Indonesia's government will now come under intense pressure to act against it, despite the lack of evidence so far that it was involved.
International reaction to the atrocity has focused attention once again on the war against terrorism proclaimed by President Bush after the attacks on New York and Washington on September 9th 2001. Many statements by world leaders yesterday emphasised the threat posed by movements such as al-Qaeda. But as yet there has been little evidence to link that organisation with this attack, or with movements in Indonesia which may have been responsible for it. Several recent incident make it clear, nevertheless, that al-Qaeda is still active and determined to continue its activities.
World attention has been concentrated on Iraq, following President Bush's apparent determination to go to war with that state in the name of his war against terrorism. This is despite the fact that there is equally little evidence to connect Iraq with al-Qaeda or the kind of organisation responsible for the Bali atrocity. Such distinctions remain crucial if terrorism is to be combated effectively. There is no guarantee that toppling the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq would make the world a safer place from attacks like this. It could, indeed, have precisely the opposite effect, by drawing attention to vulnerable centres of cosmopolitan tourism like Bali.
If fundamentalist movements are responsible for the murderous bomb attack it will be up to the Indonesian government to track them down and bring them to justice. The shocking deaths and injuries it has caused have once again dramatised the problem of terrorism and put it on to the international agenda.