October 2002: The Vengeance of Australia

October 22, 2002

Canberra, Australia

For Australian Prime Minister John Howard, he'd had better times. Much better times. Australia as a nation was absolutely furious, and he was now starting to take heat.

Just ten days before, terrorists had pulled a triple attack on the most popular holiday resort in Southeast Asia, Bali. More than 400 were dead, over half of those were Indonesian citizens. The terrorists had of course been aiming at Westerners, as they usually did. But Australian investigators had by that time found out something else - Indonesian military involvement.

A commander on the island of Bali had supplied high-grade explosive to the bombers, and they had merely used this material to make two massive car bombs based on other fuels. The investigation had seen four investigators disappear without a trace, and by now rumors had fueled the entire nation into a rage. The columns of that day's newspapers pointed to that rogue commander as proof of Indonesian government involvement. Jakarta and Canberra had both claimed that the government had nothing to do with the attacks.

The problem was that few Australians believed that, true as it was.

219 Australians, along with 40 Brits and 23 Americans, among others, had been pulled from the mess at Kuta Beach, and the media was furious, saying that this was Indonesia's retaliation for Australia's role in liberating East Timor in 1999, which had nearly driven Australia to war then.

Several of Howard's own ministers were now agitating for Australian military action. Members of several right-wing Australian political parties too were agitating for action.

John had to make his decision, and make it fast.....

Jakarta, Indonesia

For Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, things were just plain ugly. Indonesia was facing what looked like a military conflict because of the actions of Islamic terrorists - hardly a year after 9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan. Indonesia was the most populous Islamic country on the planet, but it had for a long time kept its angry Islamists under control.

Jakarta had of course had no part in the attacks on Bali - the country had suffered three decades of tyrannical rule and that memory was still fresh in their minds. They hadn't been happy when East Timor broke away, but facing the reality at hand with it, they really didn't have much of a choice.

But now one commander, furious at Indonesia's supposed loss of face, had actively supported a horrific terrorist act - and killed so many. Australia was as angry as she had ever seen them be, even including the days of Suharto and after Indonesia had invaded the first time in 1975.

And now, the Australian newspapers were aching for Australia to declare war on Indonesia - over a bunch of Islamists! And nothing Indonesia could say or do, it seemed, could lower the fury of the Aussies.

So, Sukarnoputri had to face a nasty reality - all that stood between war and peace was John Howard, a man she personally despised. And with the froth almost brewing from the mouths of the Australians, it looked like a new front in the war on terror in Indonesia was a real possibility......

To be continued.....
 

Seldrin

Banned
Wouldn't Australia just demand that those responsiblr for the attacks (the commander) be brought to Australia for trial?
As much as I would like to see how a war like this would turn out, I just don't think that the scenario is plausible enough.
 
Gotta say I agree with Seldrin on this one, that said it can be easy to underestimate a ticked off country.
Especially if a beloved cricket/footy team was taken out...
Defiantly looking forward to more updates.
 
The knowledge that this rogue commander is responsible, and who killed four Australian policemen who were investigating.

Also note that this commander is a Muslim. The overwhelming majority of Balinese are Hindus. That DOES play a part......
 
October 23, 2002

BBC News

Jakarta Turns up the Heat under Bali terrorists

Jakarta (AP) - Indonesia has ordered the arrest of Commander Mohammed Suparmanputra Onbekend, the commander who has been confirmed to be the man who assisted in the Bali bombings.

The arrest warrant was publicly ordered by President Megawati Sukarnoputri to the world's media, which has drawn the applause of Australian Prime Minister John Howard, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W. Bush. But it has drawn considerable criticism at home.

Sukarnoputri, like her predecessors, is under pressure to assert Indonesia's strength, and among many segments of the population openly sympathize with the goals of the likes of Jemaah Islamiah, which carried out the deadly bombings. Islamism has shown considerable growth in Indonesia since the end of Suharto in 1998. The eyes of the world are now paying close attention to Islamism due to the 9/11 attacks and the war in Afghanistan.
 
October 23, 2002

Hmmm I'm guessing the capture of the Commander gets bungled followed by a failed covert action by Australia?
Or maybe they'll capture and execute the commander and things will just get worse an worse...
 
Interesting TL. Please continue :)

Will this lead to an Indonesian vs. Australian conflict or just Indonesia (with the help of Australia) cleaning up Radical Islamic terrorists?
 
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