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News.com.au
a day ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Bali bomb maker Umar Patek launches business in Indonesia
A convicted terrorist and bombmaker in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people has launched a new business in Indonesia — claiming he is now 'brewing peace'. The news has been met with anger from the families of those who died in the bombing. Some 88 Australians lost their lives in the attack on two nightclubs in the popular tourist district of Kuta on Saturday night, October 12, 2002. On top of the 202 people who died, 240 others were injured. Umar Patek was on the run for almost a decade and was eventually tracked down in Pakistan in 2011 and arrested. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2012 but was released from jail in Java, Indonesia on parole in December 2022 after serving 11 years. The early release was slammed by Australian officials. Now, he is opening a coffee business. Patek told the South China Morning Post 's This Week in Asia about his 'Coffee RAMU 1966 by Umar Patek' venture. 'Before, I was known for something that hurt the world,' he said. 'Now I have chosen a different path.' Hedon Estate, a restaurant in Surabaya, Indonesia, has helped Patek launch the business. Patek said the owner had donated equipment to make the coffee and they would stock his products. He told This Week in Asia that the move was about starting a new life. 'Once, I concocted bombs, and now I concoct coffee,' Patek said. Hedon Estate will host the launch of RAMU 1966 by Umar Patek on Tuesday. The restaurant has posted promotional videos with Patek on social media. One caption, translated to English, reads: 'He was known for the wounds he left, now he is remembered for the aroma of coffee he brewed. 'His life's journey is not about a dark past, but about the courage to change and choose a path that brings peace. One man, one cup of coffee, and a million new hopes.' On Patek's prison release in 2022, Indonesia said Patek had participated in the country's deradicalisation program and earned remissions for good behaviour. Then Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said Patek's release was an 'absolutely horrible day for the victims of the Bali bombings'. Australian Sandra Thompson, whose 29-year-old son Clint Thompson died in the bombings, reacted to the news of Patek's new business. 'Has this man repented? Does he still think what he did was morally right? Or has he just served a sentence then moved on?' she told This Week in Asia. '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.' Patek has previously labelled himself 'a murderer and a sinner' and said he has apologised to victims open to hearing him. 'Everyone who has met with me in person has forgiven me,' Patek claimed in a Q&A for Al Jazeera in 2023. 'When I meet victims, I say, 'I am Umar Patek and I was involved in the Bali bombing,' then I explain why I was there, and apologise.' He added: 'I did not say sorry to get out of prison early, but everything is always wrong in other people's eyes. If I say sorry, people say I am pretending and it is a strategic choice. If I didn't apologise, people would say I was arrogant.'
Sky News AU
a day 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.
South China Morning Post
4 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Bali bomber Umar Patek seeks a second chance by ‘brewing peace' with coffee
In a quiet cafe in Surabaya, the scent of freshly brewed coffee drifts through the air – a far cry from the sulphur and smoke that once defined Umar Patek's past. 'Before, I was known for something that hurt the world,' he told This Week in Asia. 'Now I have chosen a different path.' Patek was once one of the most wanted men on the planet for the role he played in the Bali bombings that left hundreds dead over two decades ago. Now, the convicted bomber is brewing something else entirely: peace, he says – and a second chance. He plans to unveil his new coffee business, 'RAMU Coffee 1966 by Umar Patek', on Tuesday in the Indonesian city of Surabaya, in a symbolic departure from the years he spent on the run, in hiding and behind bars. Now, I am brewing flavours and brewing peace Umar Patek, former bomb-maker 'Now, I am brewing flavours and brewing peace,' he said, seated at the Hedon Estate cafe that will be the first to stock his beans, sold both whole and ground. 'Before, bitterness used to destroy, now [the] bitterness [of coffee] heals.'
