Arrogant Oz Australians, so rude. No wonder they're hated. From committing that terrible gaucherie in Timor, to presuming to set their immigration policy without the imprimatur of Indonesian Muslims...tsk. Is there no limit to the arrogance of these people? Apparently they have even, like the rest of the West, shirked the responsibility of properly educating those malleable and feckless reactors to the north, who are not to be granted the human dignity of being held answerable for their own beliefs and actions:

Monash university terrorism expert David Wright-Neville said that Australia's close alignment with the US since September 11 had allowed such extremism to flourish in its northern neighbour.

"There's been a massive failure of public diplomacy on the part of the west since then. It's created an atmosphere in Indonesia where Muslims believe that the west is using these events to its own ends, and that provides a handy environment within which terrorism can operate."

I have a hard time articulating thoughts on Bali; what I end up typing is embarrassingly hackneyed. My thoughts at this stage are doughy, perhaps merely emotionalism - I feel that what happened in Bali will, in retrospect, be seen as a determinant as significant as the WTC. Comments?

Posted by Moira Breen at October 17, 2002 09:56 AM