Denpasar – Bali's Hindus celebrated one of their holiest days and its Muslims began the fasting month of Ramadan as police vowed to "work around the clock" to solve the weekend bombings.
But despite the festive air as Hindus in traditional dress flocked to temples for Galungan, which marks the victory of good over evil, a pall was cast over what should have been a joyful day for both religions on the Indonesian resort island.
"We have to welcome Ramadan with a happy heart but I am sad," Lukman Hakim, 24, said before midday prayers at Al-Mujahadin mosque in the Kuta tourist strip, the scene of one of Saturday night's three coordinated suicide blasts.
National police deputy spokesman Sunarko Danu Ardanto said that although no arrests had been made yet, investigators were doing everything they could to identify the three bombers and the masterminds behind the attack.
"Our detectives are working around the clock and the dynamics of every division involved are moving very well," he told reporters.
"We're exhausting all efforts so that we can quickly solve this case." Police have said that two people have been taken into detention and are under interrogation as part of the investigation, but that so far there was no indication they were involved.
As the investigation widened, police on Indonesia's main island of Java said Wednesday they were looking for five men suspected of terrorist links who had previously been under surveillance.
"We learned after the Bali bombings that they have not been seen in their areas. Our job is to investigate whether they have links with the Bali bombings," said the police chief in western Banten province, Badrodin Haiti.
A Jakarta-based police spokesman, Senior Commissioner Bambang Kuncoro, told reporters that so far 75 witnesses had been questioned, but there was no indication any were involved in the attack. There was anger in Australia, meanwhile, over the possibility of a cut in the jail sentence imposed on the alleged spiritual leader of the group blamed for 2002's nightclub attacks in Bali.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer will travel to Indonesia to lobby the government to ban the extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) following the latest Bali attacks, Prime Minister John Howard said.
"The real issue is the determination of the Indonesian police and security authorities and government to crack down on the terrorist organisations, their activities rather than their structures," he said.
Like other bombings in Indonesia, no group has claimed responsibility for Saturday's attacks, but the finger of blame has been pointed at two fugitive Malaysian bombmakers who are linked to JI.
The legacy of the bombings three years ago in which 202 people perished, including 88 Australians, was also weighing on the people of Bali this week, with calls for three culprits given the death penalty to be executed now.
"Our lives have almost been destroyed by these barbaric people. But these militants seem to have a good life in jail," said Warti, who was just 23 years old when she was widowed by the original attacks.
"I hope the death sentences on Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Mukhlas are carried out soon. Why are they allowed to breathe while we are suffering?" President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday called on Indonesians to unite and work together to overcome the unending series of threats and problems faced by the nation this year.
"This last year, our country has experienced and faced various tests, problems and often, challenges which are not light," he said referring to the December tsunami, deadly bird flu and the weakening rupiah.
Despite the bloody suicide bombings which targeted packed restaurants, killing 19 people, Bali's majority Hindu population carried on with the rites of Galungan.
The streets were full of men and women in bright sarongs, making their way to the island's many temples or roadside shrines, where tall piles of fruit and flowers were being arranged.
Yoga, a 32-year-old woman in a traditional brocade blouse and sarong, arrived at a Denpasar temple with one large basket balanced on her head and another in her hands.
"I am really frightened. Already my business is suffering," said Yoga, who runs a small souvenir stall with her husband. "I just pray that Balinese can and will live in peace and that Bali will be safe again," she said. "Instead of being a happy day, the blasts have made this day resemble a day of mourning."