Tears still flow for mother of Bali blast victim

By LUCY BENNETT

The strain of holding back the tears is audible in Judy Wellington's voice as she describes the loss of her son, Jamie, in the Bali bombing a year ago.

The passage of time has not eased the grief of losing a son, and Mrs Wellington is dealing with a double blow - her diagnosis of cancer just weeks after her son's death.

The bone marrow cancer from which is she is recovering is one of the reasons Mrs Wellington has decided against travelling to Bali for the first-anniversary commemorations of the October 12 bombings.

Two Kuta nightclubs were targeted, and 202 people were killed - including three New Zealanders and 88 Australians.

The New Zealand Government is helping about 75 people get to Australian and New Zealand commemorations in Bali on Sunday and another 10 to a service in Wellington.

Mrs Wellington, who lives in Whangamata, will attend the Wellington service with her two other sons, aged 18 and 33.

"Physically it would have been very difficult for me [to get to Bali]," Mrs Wellington said.

"I was also a bit hesitant about wanting to be with 1500 Australians all wanting revenge and that sort of thing.

"I will go back to Bali. I have been already, straight after the bombing. I think the Balinese are lovely people and I really feel for them."

It is a time of "extreme sadness" for Mrs Wellington, who said the past year had been horrible.

"It's a difficult time for me anyway. Three weeks after the bombing, after I'd been to Jakarta and been to Bali and got back and we had a service for Jamie, I collapsed. My backbone just gave way and I was discovered to have bone marrow cancer.

"I'm getting better but it's left me disabled. I can't walk very well."

Jamie Wellington, a former Aucklander who taught maths at Jakarta International School, was in Bali for a rugby tournament. It was believed his car was pulling up outside the Sari Club when the blast hit.

His American wife, Lissie, and the couple's young daughters still live in Jakarta and Mrs Wellington is in frequent contact with them.

"We're still very much grieving."

Mr Wellington's father, Rob, who lives in Hong Kong, was also not planning to go to Bali next week.

"It's too raw for him," Mrs Wellington said.

Fellow New Zealanders Jared Gane and Mark Parker were also killed and a number of others were injured in the blasts at the Sari Club and Paddys Bar.

Five members of Mr Parker's family are to attend the Bali commemorations.

Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff is also going to Bali for the formal service organised by Australia on Sunday and will then host a lunchtime gathering of remembrance for the New Zealand victims.

The Balinese community has organised a flower ceremony later in the day.

Mr Goff said the attendance by Mr Parker's family epitomised the enormous cost to those who lost relatives in the attack.

Mr Parker was "a young man with a bright future, obviously someone much loved and cherished by his family" .

Although most people at the commemorations would harbour some anger, the ceremony was more about commemorating the lives lost, Mr Goff said, "and from my perspective just a determination by all of us that the scourge of international terrorism be responded to in a way that will protect people against future such incidents".

Chris Elder, New Zealand's ambassador to Indonesia, will also attend the Bali commemorations.

He said it would be a sober occasion, "a moment of stock-taking, I guess, for the families and the people who were there".

Mr Elder, based in Jakarta, said the embassy still received a trickle of inquiries about whether it was safe to travel to Indonesia.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade had advised against non-essential travel following the bombings and that advice had not been relaxed, Mr Elder said.

"What's in the advisory really reflects our view that it is still wise to be cautious because we are aware that there are still terrorist cells active in Indonesia.

"You can never exclude the possibility of another attack in which New Zealanders might be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I guess the Marriott bombing underlines that, that the possibility is still out there."

At least one New Zealander was injured in the Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta in August. A group of 29 Fonterra staff were at a training seminar there when the car bomb exploded, killing 16 and injuring 150.

There is still nervousness in Indonesia as the men responsible for the Bali bombings are dealt with by the court.

Last week the last of four main suspects - Ali Ghufron, alias Mukhlas - was convicted and sentenced to death.

Two other key Bali defendants, Samudra and Amrozi bin Nurhasyhim, have received death sentences and a third - Ali Imron - received life in prison for the attack.

The latest verdict has been hailed as a sign that Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation, is serious about confronting the threat of Islamic militancy.

During his trial, Ghufron admitted to being the operations chief of Jemaah Islamiyah - the al Qaeda-linked extremist group accused in the Bali bombings.

He also confessed that he travelled to Afghanistan in the 1980s and fought alongside al Qaeda leader Osama bi Laden.'

- NZPA

Herald Feature: Bali bomb blast