The family that owns the property where Sari Club — one of the sites of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people — once stood in Kuta is reportedly playing hard ball about a potential sale of the property.
The family has come under intense criticism over their plans to build a five-story building housing a restaurant and offices at the site and since then, they have been in negotiations with the local government and the Australia-based Bali Peace Park Association (BPPA) — who want to build a memorial to honor the bombing victims — about a potential sale.
Australia’s ABC today reported that the family had agreed with BPPA, the Bali government and Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry, among others, to sell the 700 square meters site for US$3.4 million. However, the land owners are holding out on any deal before they’re also paid IDR90 billion (US$6.3 million) in compensation, which is the value of the five-story building project they had previously planned.
“There was no price agreed from our meeting yesterday, and it needs to be underlined that we won’t sell at land price but we will sell the project plan in accordance with the issued building permit,” land owner Lina Tania told Detik via text message today.
Tania said if the demand was not obeyed, the family would commence with the construction of the building.
“We will continue to build the project but we delayed it because we appreciate BPPA’s effort to buy [the site]. But if BPPA cannot afford to meet our demands, we’ll go ahead with building it as planned because this is still our land,” Tania said.
“BPPA wanted to buy but the price offered was too cheap and that didn’t respect the land owners. In every meeting, they always put emotions forward and threatened it will affect the countries’ diplomatic ties. We, as the land owners, do not want that to happen, but we hope what has been decided be considered and respected. Whatever happens, this is privately-owned land.”
The meeting’s mediator, local tourism agency head Made Badra, told Detik yesterday that BPPA offered to pay IDR 5 billion in compensation for the site, which has been vacant since the 2002 Bali bombings.
BPPA have long been hoping to build a permanent memorial on the site to honor the bombing victims. They initially hoped the Sari Club site owners would agree to do a land swap, as Bali Governor Wayan Koster had offered a bigger site nearby in exchange for the plot of land.
The ground-breaking ceremony for the five-story building was scheduled for May 1. Plans to develop the building, which would include a restaurant, a small business centre and a museum for the bombing victims, has angered Australia.
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the plan “deeply distressing” and said he would demand the Indonesian government resolve the issue.
The 2002 Bali bombings claimed the lives of people from at least 21 countries, including 38 Indonesian nationals. Local terror network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) was blamed after its members detonated explosives outside the US consulate and two popular night spots on the Indonesian resort island, including in front of Sari Club, which was later demolished.
Australia suffered the highest number of casualties from the bombings, with at least 88 of its citizens among the 202 people killed.
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