The 12th of October in Bali is always a day veiled with difficult memories and lifelong grief. On the 12th October 2002, 202 people were killed during a terrorist attack in Kuta.
The attack killed 88 Australians, 38 Indonesians, and dozens more tourists from around the world.
Sunday, 12th October marked the 23rd anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Kuta. A poignant memorial ceremony was hosted at the Bali Bombing Memorial Monument, also known as the Ground Zero Monument at Jalan Raya Legian.
The memorial event was attended by both local community members and tourists who came together to share prayers, lay wreaths, and fresh flower bouquets.
The Bali Bombing Memorial Monument lists the names of all those who lost their lives in the attack. An Australian tourist told reporters, “Today we come to remember them. This is a very sad day, not only for Australians but also for Indonesians. All the names here are very heartbreaking.”
He added “Peace. I ask for nothing for myself. Yes, peace. Not just here, but throughout the world. So that we never have to experience something like that again.”
The Bali Bombings personally affected tens of thousands of people around the world. Not only were 202 people killed, but hundreds more were harmed in the attacks and left with life-changing injuries. Families from around the world were left devastated by the incident, and for Indonesian people, the national grief around the incident is still palpable.
In attendance at the event was Priscilla Kimberley, a Jakarta-born Bali resident who has only been living on the island for two months. She attended the commemoration with her husband and two children to pay their respects as a family.
She told reporters, “We’re here to remember our friends who have died. We didn’t know them personally, but every October 12th in Hong Kong, there’s always something like a communal lunch to commemorate this event. There are flowers and other memorials.”
Reporters also spoke with Ni Luh Sariani. She is a local flower seller who lives on Jalan Mataram, Kuta, and has been working in the area for decades. She has been selling flowers at every Bali Bombing anniversary for three years. “Every year on October 12th, I come here to sell flowers.”
She told reporters, “There’s more interest from foreign tourists, especially Australian tourists, because some of the victims of the Bali Bombing tragedy were Australian. The price per stem is IDR 20,000; sometimes they give more than IDR 50,000 per stem.”
Commemoration events are held across Australia on the 12th of October every year, too. Bali Bombing Memorial sites have been established in Melbourne, Perth, the Gold Coast, and Sydney. 88 Australian nationals were killed in the attack, and dozens more were injured.
Many tourists, alongside local community members and rescue teams, worked together in the immediate aftermath of what is known as one of the worst terrorist attacks in Indonesia’s history.
23 tourists from the UK were also killed in the attack, alongside 7 from the US, 6 from Germany, and tourists from the Netherlands, Denmark, Brazil, Ecuador, South Africa, Japan, Portugal, and Poland were amongst those who lost their lives.
The two-phase attack took place at 11.05 pm on 12th October 2002. At 11.05 pm, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest inside Paddy’s Bar in the heart of Kuta. Twenty seconds later, a second, more powerful bomb was detonated from a Mitsubishi van located outside the Sari Club, opposite Paddy’s Bar, just as party-goers started fleeing the scene of the first attack.
In January 2025, leaders in Bali confirmed that plans are still in progress to develop the Bali Peace Park Museum on the site where the bombings took place over twenty years ago. Speaking in January, the Head of the Badung Regency Culture Office, Gede Eka Sudarwitha, confirmed that the Badung Regency Government completed the purchase of the former Sari Club site in December 2024.
He confirmed that the regency government has invested IDR 60 billion in the land, and Sudarwitha noted, “This is in accordance with the Badung Regency Government’s policy. This museum will not only be a space for reflection but also a symbol of peace.”
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