Bali bombers Mukhlas, Amrozi and Imam Samudra still laughing

Source The Australian

KILL us, Bali's laughing bombers vowed yesterday, and there will be revenge.

During their trials for the 2002 nightclub bombings on the Indonesia party island, Amrozi and fellow Islamic militants Mukhlas and Imam Samudra said they were happy to die for their cause - whatever it was - but now they squeal and squirm.

"If I am executed, later there will be retribution," Amrozi, awaiting death by firing squad, threatened yesterday.

Amrozi, 47, a resident of Nusakambangan Island, a prison for end-of-the-line criminals off Java, yesterday told journalists on the third anniversary of the subsequent 2005 Bali bombings that those who executed him would be "condemned to die by God".

Of course we are all condemned to die by god - or fate, or time, whatever you like to call it. Some of us would prefer that time picked us, rather than having it decided by a group of miserable humans who insult their god by imagining they share his power.

The smiling assassin, the cowardly Amrozi, so unremorseful, is clearly terrified of his imminent execution. As is Mukhlas, who said: "If the execution is carried out, that will constitute the biggest criminal act because they will be killing holy warriors."

Despite Amrozi laughing through their trials, and the three using every legal stalling method they could to stay their executions - all failed - they have now reached the point of imagining what it will feel like when a bullet passes through their respective hearts. Maybe they won't feel a thing.

Yet there is no reason their deaths should be celebrated. But none of them has given a single reason for anyone to fight for them.

This is especially so because they remain committed to killing, even as their ends draw nearer. Yesterday, at the end of Ramadan, Amrozi delivered his threat of retribution. He did not expound on what form this retribution would take.

Asked by a journalist if he would seek forgiveness - a tradition during the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Fitr - from the families of Western victims, Imam Samudra said: "I don't ask for forgiveness from infidels, I only ask for forgiveness from Muslims."

If certain parents or loved ones of the 202 who were killed in the October 12 bombings believe the three should not be shot, they should be respected in that wish.

So should loved ones who think otherwise.

Anyone who has stood in Kuta looking at the memorial to the 202 - 88 of them Australian - could not fail to be deeply moved.

The bombers, who were themselves mass executioners, also turned on their own Government yesterday, with Mukhlas describing it as "satanic".
Indonesian people, in my experience, are among the warmest people on the planet. They are also susceptible to superstition, which is what Mukhlas is playing on. They will not be conned in this instance.

When the three are taken to a lonely beach - or perhaps to a coconut grove - at dawn to have small aprons pinned on their chests to assist the execution squad's aim, it will simply not matter that they are gone. The people I feel most for are those in the firing squad, most of whom will have their long weapon armed with blanks but will probably know, based on the rifle's recoil, whether or not it was their bullet that did the damage.

"The people who will execute us, if they do this execution they will be cursed by God," Mukhlas said.

Well, in this life, some people have unpleasant jobs they just have to do. On October 12, 2002, Amrozi, Mukhlas and Samudra were not such people.