Bali Bombing - why?

In response to the suicide bombings in Bali this weekend, I read and heard the usual knee-jerk reactions of blaming it on Australia backing of the US invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. However, I read an excellent letter to the editor in today's "The Australian" newspaper which offers an alternate reason to consider. The writer brought up, what I think is, an interesting point about the motives behind this violence, which makes a lot of sense.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Islamic nation. But unlike other Islamic nations in the Middle East, Indonesia (and Malaysia too), has a history and tradition of tolerance for other faiths. Within South East Asia, there are millions of Buddhist, Hindus, Christians, and other faiths. Parts of Indonesia are very strictly Islamic, particulars the largest and most populated islands of Sumatra and Java. The island of Bali is different. The Balinese are Hindu. That is one of the reasons why Bali is so different the rest of Indonesia.

But Indonesia has been afflicted with the same problem as The Balkins. Religious and ethnic fault lines are tearing apart the country. The eastern islands of Indonesia are taking the brunt of this conflict. For years there have been an escalating massacres between Muslim and Christian villages, where the people of one village attack and kill everyone in another village simply because of their faith.

What has happened over the last 10 years is that more and more Muslim Indonesians from the western and overpopulated part of the country, such as Java, have been relocated, into the eastern provinces where Islam is not the majority. They feel out of the element. They are then exploited by extremists trained in the Middle East to convert their frustration into a hatred of all who are not of their faith.

Indonesia has always had a hard-core Islamic faction that wants to impose a pan-Islamic rule over all of South East Asia. These people view the Hindu Balinies not as fellow citizens of Indonesia, but as infidels who are standing in the way of the Asian Islamic state.

These bombings are not a war on "the west". They are a war on Bali by fellow Indonesians who want Bali to become another Islamic island. The bombings are part of a camaign to destroy the economy of Bali by driving off the tourist. They want to force Bali to convert, and using terror and violence is an acceptable method to covert people to Islam, according to the new generation of militants being led by nuts from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.