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DENPASAR - Indonesia's resort island of Bali has banned screenings of a film on the 2002 bombings there because it could "reopen old wounds", a provincial film board official said yesterday.
Long Road to Heaven, Indonesia's first film on the bombings that killed 202 people, had a high-profile release in Jakarta last month.
The movie looks at the tragedy from different points of view, including those of a Balinese taxi driver who lost a relative in the blast, an American surfer searching for peace after the Sept. 11 attacks and Muslim militants who were blamed for the bombs.
"If this movie is allowed to be screened in Bali, we fear people who do not understand it would trigger conflict and direct hatred at a certain group," said I Gusti Ngurah Gde, head of Bali's provincial film body.
"If the Bali bombing tragedy is revived, this would reopen old wounds, especially among the victims," he told reporters.
The movie was shown to Bali officials and relatives of bombing victims last week at the governor's office.
"Almost all of us said we should reject the screening of this movie across Bali," Gde said.
He said it also could further harm the island's main industry, tourism, which was badly hurt by the bombings.
Gde did not mention which group would be targeted but Muslims, a minority group on the predominantly Hindu island, faced hostility after the 2002 bombings and another string of blasts in Bali three years later.
Ninety-two Australians died in the the two bombings.
In December, Indonesian censors barred a documentary on the bombings from an international film festival in Jakarta over concerns that remarks made by one of the bombers in the film could encourage terror attacks.
- REUTERS
