This attitude is to be contrasted to its reaction to the 9/11 attack in New York, when of course, no travel advisories not to visit this city, or the USA, were ever issued. On the contrary, the New York mayor at the time, Rudolph Giuliani, told everybody to "come to New York and show the terrorists that we are not afraid, otherwise they would have won." (Presently, Giuliani is a presidential candidate, and his basic platform is fear: "vote for me and you'll be safe from terrorism.").
Following these travel advisories, the number of travelers to Indonesia diminished drastically, including the flow of tourists to Bali, with its serious economical consequences to the Balinese. In particular, the number of US tourists in Bali fell sharply, and to this day, has not yet recovered: it is still about 35 – 40% of its pre-9/11 numbers. Over and over, people asked (and are still asking) on this website and others, "How safe is it in Bali?" Of course, as we all agree on the truth, we answered realistically to them that it is, at least as safe as in their home countries, if not safer. But for some reasons, most of the time, these people still do not seem convinced.
An interesting statistical analysis, the Global Peace Index, has just been published by the Economist Intelligence Unit, which ranks 121 countries, based on peacefulness, both domestically and internationally. Some of the parameters used are the number of crimes, the level of domestic violence, the number of incarcerations (almost 2 millions!), the number of soldiers killed abroad, and relations with the neighboring countries. This analysis was also reported last week in the very popular US weekly, Time magazine, and it will, no doubt, be a reality check to the average US citizen.
Here are some of the results;
Of course, the number one safest country in the world, out of the 121 countries considered, is Norway. This will not be a surprise to anyone who has spent some time living in this beautiful country. It is followed by New Zealand (also not a surprise). The United States ranks 96th, and is ranked way behind Indonesia (78th). I am sure my Australian friends will ask about their own country: 25th. Russia is in the 118th position, followed by Israel, Sudan and finally…Iraq. I was surprised to see that the Netherlands only ranked 20th, as I would have thought, from my own experience, that it would have been one of the leaders of the pack.
As a particular example regarding how safe is your own environment compared to Bali, here are some facts regarding my own town, Boston, Massachusetts, USA (I leave in one of its suburbs, 10 miles away), compiled daily by a Boston resident from the police reports of the city, and posted on the Web. The Boston population is 559,034 (approximately 17% that of Bali). The following statistics are from January 1 – June 3, 2007:
Total number of crimes = 11,815 (-1,115 for the same period, in 2006: we're slipping…
)
Homicides = 24
Rapes and attempted rapes = 105
Robberies or attempts = 928
Aggravated assaults = 1,597
Burglary or attempts = 1,312
Larceny or attempts = 6,367
Vehicle thefts or attempts = 1,482
And this is Boston, which is far from being the "crime capital of the USA!" Just imagine if the same crime rate was transposed to Bali: for one, it would mean 69,500 crimes/year. And somehow, I live quite well in Boston, and so do most of the other 559,034 residents, most of them thinking that it is the best and safest place in the world, certainly safer than Indonesia, and most particularly Bali ("How can you go to Bali? Isn't it dangerous?" I get asked all the time).
Here you have it: the "grass is always greener on the other side of the fance," and it is also "darker."
