http://www.smh.com.au/world/bomb-site-used-as-public-urinal-20121010-27dez.html
Bomb site used as 'public urinal' Date October 11, 2012 Michael Bachelard Indonesia Correspondent for Fairfax Media View more articles from Michael Bachelard Urinating and soliciting sex on sacred ground A 3AW correspondent describes how the site of the Bali bombing that claimed the lives of 88 Australians is now an unofficial public urinal where street walkers solicit sex in the evenings. a.. Autoplay OnOff b.. Video feedback c.. Video settings KUTA: The epicentre of the Bali bombing, which many Australians regard as sacred ground, is being used as a car park and casual public urinal as squabbling over its future stretches into its second decade. A forlorn Australian flag, decorated with newspaper portraits of the 88 Australian dead, hung on the fence of the Sari Club site in central Kuta yesterday as a procession of pilgrims came and expressed their disgust. And late last night, as the bars and nightclubs kicked into action, Fairfax Media observed several people urinating on ground where, 10 years ago this week, hundreds of people were burnt to death. Crossed-purposes ... Phil Britten is a strong advocate of the former site of the Sari Club becoming a peace park but it is now used as a car park. Photo: Justin McManus Phil Britten, who was badly burnt across 40 per cent of his body, and who lost seven of his mates from the Kingsley Football Club in the Bali blast, has been fighting for years to make the Sari Club site a ''peace park''. Advertisement But the landowner, a rich businessman, Tija Sukamto, and the leaseholder, one of Bali's most powerful magnates, Kadek Wiranatha, have refused all efforts to encourage them to part with the land, including an offer of more than $1 million, partly funded by Australian governments. Their price is $7.2 million for three-quarters of the block - well above the market price for even the most valuable Kuta real estate. A sign urges men not to use the car park as a urinal. Photo: Justin McManus As the stalemate drags on, signs have appeared on walls and gates saying in Indonesian and English, ''This area strictly not public toilet'', with the joking addition of, ''But ladies are welcome.'' Efforts to beautify the lot have failed. It is covered in packed dirt, rubbish is piled up in one corner and it contains a paid parking lot and a corrugated iron eatery. ''We've tried to plant trees there. There were beautiful banana plants … and they've been taken down,'' Mr Britten says. ''And to see the sign about urinating … it's a bit disheartening.'' Jan Laczynski, who lost five friends on the night of October 12, 2002, after returning to Melbourne a day before the blast, used even stronger language. ''It will always be a sacred site to so many Australians, and to see a car park where the ashes of loved ones have been scattered - it's just disgraceful,'' he said. Australian passers-by at the site yesterday, some associated with the bombing and in Bali for the 10th anniversary, likewise expressed their disbelief that the ugliest block in Kuta was the site of the atrocity. However, Sandra Thompson, the mother of one of the victims, Clint Thompson, said she could not blame local people for urinating there because there was no other open space and no public facilities anywhere else in Kuta. Mr Britten said he was optimistic that a peace park would be built but the leaseholder remains unmoved. Kadek Wiranatha said he had paid for a 30-year lease and he planned to put a ''nice, quiet restaurant'' on it - although observers say it's more likely to be another nightclub of the kind that made his fortune. ''I'm determined to keep the land … because I already signed the lease,'' he said, adding the elusive owner also wanted to keep it, to pass on to his grandson. Bali's governor, I Made Pastika, has already vetoed development at the Sari Club site, and some now believe the only way to resolve the stalemate is for him to force the owner to sell to the local government. New laws ratified in Indonesia in January allow this to happen, for the first time. But Mr Pastika - who was the police chief responsible for the arrest of the bombers, and who is the patron of the peace park group - has said his hands are tied when it comes to fixing the site. He admitted the price the owner was asking for the land was "crazy" and "unbelievable" but added there was little he could do about it. Some locals also support a park in the area, which has undergone rampant development in the past few years and in which there is now little open space. Ayu Silat was a cashier at the Sari Club on the fateful night, and was only metres from where the terrorists' one-tonne bomb blew up. She very nearly became another victim. Five months ago, this woman who nearly lost her life gave birth to new life. She wants her daughter to be able to visit a park in the place where terror visited her. ''If it's a peace park, then it will stay like that, as a memory,'' she said. ''If it's just another establishment, this story, it will slowly fade away.'' Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/bomb-site-used-as-public-urinal-20121010-27dez.html#ixzz28vc8FA17 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
