The Bali bombers and martyrdom

The three terrorists most responsible for the 2002 Bali night club bombings were executed, said The Jakarta Post in an editorial, without ever having shown remorse for killing more than 200 people, largely foreign tourists. In fact, they “bragged of their imminent executions as an act of martyrdom.” Thanks to the “whole fiasco” of their drawn-out trial and media-friendly imprisonment, some will accept them as martyrs. We say, “good riddance.”

“It would be dangerously naive” to expect the executions to kill the impulses that led to the bombings, said Malaysia’s New Straits Times in an editorial. If the "murderous militancy” of the Islamist group “Jemaah Islamiyah appears to be on the retreat in Indonesia,” it’s because of increased law enforcement, not the end of local terrorism.

Still, few Indonesians will be converted to Jemaah Islamiyah’s bloody cause, said Tim Lindsey in Australia’s Herald Sun. The Bali bombings killed large numbers of foreigners, but most attacks by the group killed fellow Indonesian Muslims. “Just because the Bali bombers claim they will become ‘martyrs’” doesn’t mean Indonesians will be hot to avenge them.

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