‘I tried to stop it’: Bali bomber’s sliding doors moment, as his secret life is revealed

Bali bomber Umar Patek has explained what happened when he was asked to make a 950kg bomb targeting “white people”, as his quiet life with his wife is uncovered.

EXCLUSIVE: A mass murderer has revealed he tried to stop the 2002 Bali bombings, in a shock U-turn from his previous claim “there was no way I could refuse” to build a 950kg bomb.

Umar Patek, now 58, who is now out of jail and living a happy life with his wife, told a documentary crew from Indonesia’s counter-terrorism group in October that he pushed back on the bombing plan to retaliate for the deaths of Muslims in Palestine, saying they should instead go to Palestine and fight the Israeli army rather than by blowing up “white people who have nothing to do with those affairs”.

He was too young to influence any decision, and the attacks went ahead as planned in Kuta – killing 202 people, including 88 Australians, and injuring about 240 others.

Patek never handed himself in. Instead, he was a fugitive for about a decade before he was captured in Pakistan and sentenced to 20 years behind bars, only to be released back into the community 12 years later, in 2022.

Bali bomb maker Umar Patek now finds happiness by living life with his wife Istri and following his passion for nature photography.

He then became a poster boy for the nation’s deradicalisation program and lives a quiet life with his wife Istri in Indonesia, where he takes close-up photos of moths and is lauded as an “inspiration” for his reformed terrorist status.

In 2023, Patek told Al Jazeera he knew the bomb would “kill lots of other people who were not their target” but he felt “there was no way I could refuse”.

Umar Patek, who now takes close-up photos of moths, is lauded as an “inspiration” for his reformed terrorist status.

On Tuesday it was revealed that Patek is being bankrolled by an up-market Indonesian restaurant, Hedon Estate, to run his own coffee business, called Coffee RAMU 1966 by Umar Patek, with promotional material centred on his past life as a murderous terrorist.

“Once, I concocted bombs, and now I concoct coffee,” Patek told local media.

“Before, I was known for something that hurt the world. Now I have chosen a different path.”

The counter-terrorism documentary showed Patek taking photos of insects in long grass, and talking about how his “heart is happy” in his new life.

“When you take a picture, it has its own pleasure,” he said, referring to his passion for nature photography which came about after watching a documentary in prison.

The footage also shows Patek apologising to some of the victims of the 2002 bombings, and crying while speaking about the damage he inflicted.

“I tried to prevent it, but I failed, and I apologise to [the victims] and their families, and to all the people of Bali because they were also affected by the impact of the bombings,” he said.

One commenter described Patek as an “inspiration”.

“Frankly, Umar Patek is one of the people I admire and has become an inspiration for the growth of religious values in myself,” they wrote.

Cars burn outside the Sari Club in Denpasar, Bali, after two bomb blasts at adjacent nightclubs in 2002.

“His personality has strengthened and convinced my heart that Allah has indeed created differences on this earth so that humans can know each other, respect each other, and tolerate each other.”

Others expressed sympathy for his situation, saying he was likely brainwashed by the bombing ringleaders.

Umar Patek waves to journalists as he arrives at the West Jakarta Court in 2012.

Earlier, Bali bombing victim Glenn Cosman told this masthead that Hedon Estate appeared to be using Patek’s reformed terrorist title as a marketing ploy.

“I’m not overly happy that they’re using him as a promotion,” he said.

“You never really know if they’re rehabilitated or if they’re playing the game to get released. I don’t think we’re like computers that can be reprogrammed – he clearly knew what he was doing at the time, and then he escaped for 10 years before he was caught, so it’s not like he handed himself in or anything.”

Mr Cosman described the Indonesia justice system as “bizarre” because some of the bombers were executed or got life sentences, while Patek only got 10 years.

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Originally published as ‘I tried to stop it’: Bali bomber’s sliding doors moment, as his secret life is revealed