The chief explosive maker in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people – including 88 ns – 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 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 ns 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.
n 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 suffering the largest loss of life.
Thirty-nine Indonesians, including many who worked in the tourism industry, also died. Hundreds more people were wounded.