2002 Bali Bomber Launches His Own Coffee Brand Aimed At Promoting Peace – CoffeeTalk

Umar Patek, a former bomb maker involved in the 2002 Bali bombings, has launched his own coffee business in Surabaya, Indonesia. He is now more interested in “brewing peace” than mixing deadly explosives. Patek was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2012 for his role in the attack, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians and 23 Britons. In what remains Indonesia’s deadliest terror attack, Patek helped mix 50kg of the 1 tonne of explosives used in the bombs, while prosecutors said he helped assemble suicide vests, detonator cords, and boosters.

Released from jail in late 2022, Patek has started to rebuild his life by marketing a spiced coffee blend based on his mother’s recipe, an initiative he says is part of his mission to help deradicalise terrorists. At the launch of his coffee brand, Ramu, which features pictures of his bearded face on the packaging, Patek said that he doesn’t want to go back to the past, “I’m just looking to the future. I’m not making bombs any more – I’m making coffee.”

After his release, Patek struggled to reintegrate into society until in 2023 he met David Andreasmita, a dentist and businessman who owns the Hedon Estate cafe in Surabaya. Andreasmita said that if he let Umar be, then it would be very possible he would become a terrorist again. This coffee business is a form of deradicalisation.

However, for survivors and families of the victims, redemption remains difficult to accept. At the launch, Husnul Khotimah, an Indonesian survivor, confronted Patek about his former life and apologised again. Patek said he did remember her, from his sentencing in 2012 at which she had also confronted him, and apologised again. If his business is successful, David and the Hedon Estate cafe are committed to inviting him and other victims to work with them.

In 2022, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said he had “contempt” for Patek’s actions and that his early release would renew trauma for victims’ families. Security analyst Noor Huda Ismail, founder of The Institute for International Peace Building, said his team had worked with Patek post-release and that his case showed good potential for rehabilitation. Patek had disengaged from radical networks and been supported by family and the Indonesian government’s reintegration program, which includes counseling, religious re-education, and economic support.

Extending a second chance to someone like Umar Patek is not about forgetting the past, but about reducing the risk of future violence and building a safer society.

Read More @ The Guardian