Latest news with #CoogeeDolphins
Sky News AU
3 days ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
Convicted Bali bombmaker Umar Patek behind the deadly plot which killed 88 Australians launches cafe business
Convicted terrorist Umar Patek, who was the main bomb maker in the 2002 Bali bombings which killed more than 200 people, including 88 Australians, has launched a new café business, just a few hundred kilometres away from the devastating barbarism. Patek, whose real name is Hisyam bin Alizein, was released from prison in 2022 after serving 11 of a 20-year sentence, has claimed he has chosen 'another way' by launching his new coffee roasting business 'RAMU Coffee 1966 by Umar Patek', Ramu being a reversal of his own name. The former member of Indonesian Islamist group Jemaah Islamiyah said he had been known for something that 'hurt the world', but had now 'chosen a different path', as he plans to unveil his business on Tuesday in the Indonesian city of Surabaya. 'Now, I am brewing flavours and brewing peace,' he told South China Morning Post. Patek spoke to the outlet at the Hedon Estate café, which will stock his beans, and said before 'bitterness used to destroy', but now the 'bitterness (of coffee) heals'. 'Once, I concocted bombs, and now I concoct coffee,' Patek said. Patek told This Week in Asia he had told Indonesian media of his dream to build a business, with the owner of Hedon Estate reaching out and making it a reality. The café in Surabaya will be the base for his business launch, with Hedon Estate donating his equipment and the coffee beans to make his products. 'I thought it was so humanitarian of them to help me, particularly as the owner of the café is not Muslim. I hope that my new business will be a success and I will be able to be independent again,' he said. However, Sandra Thompson, the mother of 29-year-old Australian Clint Thompson, who was killed in the Bali bombings, questioned whether Patek had 'repented' for his crimes. 'Has this man repented? Does he still think what he did was morally right? Or has he just served a sentence then moved on?' Ms Thomson told the South China Morning Post. 'Two hundred and two lives plus an unborn baby and survivors still living with the effects of their injuries. Has he paid for that? Never, if he has no remorse.' Mr Clint was a promising rugby league player and president of the Coogee Dolphins squad when he and five other teammates were killed in the blast. Patek maintained he had apologised both publicly and privately. 'If I apologise, people say that I am pretending and being strategic… if I don't apologise people will say I am arrogant and don't care,' he said. 'This is not just about coffee. It is about change. It is about me choosing a new life.' Ms Thomspon said Patek was 'not important' in her life, but while she thought she could forgive, 'another one is allowed to live a normal life'. 'A life he took from all those families. My life has never been the same,' she said. Patek's impending café launch comes months after Sydney man, Erik de Haart, credited with saving lives in the immediate aftermath of the Bali bombings, died at the age of 67. Mr De Haart was with the Coogee Dolphins rugby league team in Kuta when the terrorists detonated the bombs. In 2023, two men convicted of conspiring in the Bali bombings, Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, were released from Guantanamo Bay following a plea deal in which they provided evidence against the alleged mastermind Hambali. Following his arrest, Patek, claimed he helped make the last 50 kilograms of the near one-tonne bomb which was placed in a van outside the Sari Club in Kuta. Patek was also convicted in connection to the 2000 Christmas Eve bombing at a church, which killed 18 people. He evaded capture for almost a decade after the Bali bombings, and moved between Pakistan and the Philippines, where he was affiliated with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) militant group, before he was finally extradited in 2011 from Abbottabad, Pakistan, the same place Osama bin Laden was killed in a raid by US Navy SEALs.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Bali bomb maker sparks outrage with new business venture: 'I was known for hurting the world, but now I choose another way'
The chief explosive maker in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people - including 88 Australians - has launched a new business after his early release from prison. Convicted terrorist Umar Patek, who helped build the devastating car bomb that was positioned outside two nighspots in the tourist hub of Kuta Beach, was released from jail in 2022. Having been released after serving 11 years of a 20-year sentence, Patek uses his part in the deadly attacks as part of his marketing for a new coffee roasting business. 'I was known for hurting the world, but now I choose another way,' he said in a video posted on the company's social media. 'The bitter taste used to destroy, now the bitterness heals. 'It's not just coffee, its change, choosing a new life.' The move has angered loved ones including Sandra Thompson who lost her son Clint Thompson. The promising rugby league player was a president of the Coogee Dolphins rugby squad that was caught up in the bombings while on an end-of-season trip. Six of them never came home. 'Has this man repented? Does he still think what he did was morally right? Or has he just served a sentence then moved on?' his mother Sandra Thompson told China Today. 'Two hundred and two lives plus an unborn baby and survivors still living with the effects of their injuries. Has he paid for that? Never, if he has no remorse.' Ms Thompson says she cannot forgive the atrocities of that day. 'I thought I had forgiven, then another one is allowed to live a normal life,' she said. 'A life he took from all those families. My life has never been the same.' Once the world's most wanted men, Patek left Bali just before the attacks and spent nine years on the run across Indonesia, the Philippines and Pakistan. He was released despite strong objections by Australia and a plea to the Indonesian government to make him serve his full sentence. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described him as 'abhorrent' and said his release would cause further distress those Australians who endured the trauma of the bombings Indonesian authorities have said Patek was successfully reformed in prison and they will use him to influence other militants to turn away from terrorism. Australian Jan Laczynski, who lost five friends in the bombings, spoke of his anger after Pateks early release. 'This guy gets his life back again. For a lot of us we'll never get our lives back again,' he said at the time. 'It's appalling. It's dreadful. It's wrong.' 'I've seen him in jail, I've seen him close up. He didn't seem de-radicalised to me.... I don't buy that at all.' Patek claims he initially struggled to find work due to his past as 'no one wanted to hire a convicted criminal'. However, after mentioning his desire to own a business in an interview with Indonesian media the owner of Hedon Estate restaurant reached out. 'I was donated the equipment that I needed to make the coffee and they said they would stock my products in the cafe,' he said. 'I thought it was so humanitarian of them to help me, particularly as the owner of the cafe is not Muslim. I hope that my new business will be a success and I will be able to be independent again.' The launch of his new coffee beans is planned for Tuesday in a small cafe in Surabaya in East Java around 400km from Bali. Patek said his brand's name Ramu is both a reversal of his own first name and a word which also means 'to concoct' in Bahasa Indonesia. He also addressed the backlash around his supposed reformation and release. 'If I apologise, people say that I am pretending and being strategic,' he said. 'If I don't apologise people will say I am arrogant and don't care. So everything is always wrong. 'This is not just about coffee. It is about change. It is about me choosing a new life.' The Bali boming attackers targeted a busy tourist strip on a Saturday night. The first explosion at Kuta was caused by a suicide bomber in Paddy's bar and the second by a bomb in a van parked outside the Sari Club. The victims were citizens of more than 20 countries, with Australia suffering the largest loss of life. Thirty-nine Indonesians, including many who worked in the tourism industry, also died. Hundreds more people were wounded.
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Bali bombing hero dies aged 67
A Sydney man credited with saving lives in the immediate aftermath of the 2002 Bali bombings has died. Erik de Haart was with the Coogee Dolphins rugby league team in Kuta when terrorists detonated bombs in two busy bars; 202 people died, including 88 Australians. Mr De Haart is credited with pulling people out of the wreckage. He died aged 67 died of a suspected heart attack on Sunday. Mr de Haart was a devotee and life member of the Coogee Dolphins. 'It is with profound sadness that we advise of the sudden passing of Coogee Dolphins life member Erik de Haart,' club president Wayne Hack said in a statement. 'Erik was a loyal servant, life member and sponsor of our club. 'He will forever be remembered in the immediate aftermath of the Bali tragedy of 2002 as a hero. Erik continued his ongoing support of the Coogee Dolphins for many years and in 2005 was honoured with a life membership. 'The Coogee Dolphins would like to extend our deepest and heartfelt sympathies to Erik's immediate and extended family and his many friends.' Mr de Haart lost six friends in the terrorist attack on October 12, 2002. Two nightclubs were targeted; more Australians were killed than any other nationality. Numerous Australian sporting teams were on post-season trips at the time. Mr de Haart had been helping a teammate back to the hotel when the Sari Club and Paddy's Bar were attacked. The incident was the largest loss of Australian life in a terrorist attack. 'On the right Paddy's bar was well alight and a girl came past and her arm was just hanging by a scrap of skin. I looked to the left and it was utter, utter chaos,' Mr de Haart told the ABC on the 10 – year anniversary. 'I raced up to the front of the Sari Club and it was just a nightmare – people screaming, people on fire. I'm trying to find the boys – I couldn't see any of the boys. I just started going into the Sari Club and there were bodies lying everywhere.' Mr de Haart recalled pulling people from the wreck as locals ferried victims to hospital. 'I grabbed this guy on a bike and said, 'Take him to hospital'. And this little guy looked up at me and said, 'How am I going to hold him up and ride my bike?' But he did. The Indonesian guys kept coming along in their cars and taking people from us. 'I've got all scars and burns on the bottom of my legs from kicking up ashes. At the time you were oblivious to it; all the time you were trying to get people out,' he told the ABC. 'Coming back for me was quite possibly the toughest time. That was when the guilt hit me. I thought, 'I've let so many people down. I went away with them and didn't bring them home'. It took me a long time to forgive myself.'
