Politics? - I don't think so.
Rather, justice crying out to be seen to be done.
Hopefully acceptably within the OT gambit.
_________________________________

Boycott Bali?
Why wouldn't you?
Nobody with any sense whatsoever would ever again got to Bali on
holiday. But, alas, it's not that simple.

I feel extremely sorry, and have done so for a long time, for the
Indonesian people trapped in a corrupt and dictatorial state, lorded
over by the military, where corruption is utterly endemic, power is
total influence and justice is, by almost any standard, a joke. But it
takes an extreme example of them reaching into "our" world to really
get my, and our, attention.

For the "Bali 9", dropped into the worst possible imaginable situation
by their own government, I can feel sympathy, but they are manifestly
the victims of their own evil-doing and stupidity. Attempting to
traverse Indonesian Customs with significant amounts of heroin taped
to your body leaves one rightly open to anything the Indonesian
'authorities' may choose to do to you. Sadly for them, death is not
the worst possible
outcome for these people.

But Schapelle Corby's case is different. Unquestionably, it makes a
difference
to many that she is young, and pretty and female, not to mention
seemingly innocent. But it's not the main point. The case against her
has so many manifest holes in it, the Indonesian Judiciary's
performance at her trial, which would be laughable in other
circumstances, and the lack of anything approaching reasonable process
is completely unacceptable to people accustomed to justice being
approximately just.  The Australian Government's statesmanlike
"don't make waves" response is understandable but verges on the
Chamberlainesque. Their "gift" of nine other (alleged) drug
traffickers to the Indonesian authorities seems to have gone
unnoticed.

That a leading Malaysian newspaper should decide to shill for it's
corrupt and irrational neighbour and accuse all Australians of racism
in their response is as unnacceptable as it is unexpected. Their
professed astonishment at the depth of Australian response to the
conviction suggests that they will be utterly astounded at where
things will go from here. And while some of the responses are indeed
racist, and unacceptably so, the majority are not. Attempting to
dismiss the widespread and heartfelt public response in such manner is
in turn in large part racially motivated. If the Malaysian press had
been equally vocal on the several occasions in recent years when
foreigners were murdered in Indonesia and the
planners and perpetrators subsequently received trivial sentences
which were
an affront to justice, one might less feel that they 'doth protest too
much'.

Is Schapelle guilty? Just possibly. But almost certainly not. And if
she is guilty she is almost certainly mentally deficient as well. To
take around $50,000 of Marijuana and import it into a country where it
is freely available and would be worth around $4,000. To place 4 kg of
it in an unidentifiable bag and then freely identify it as being yours
when asked, and to import it into, of all places, Indonesia, where
every Australian expects security should be much tighter after the
carnage that certain Indonesians wrought on several hundred
Australians a few years ago, would require a degree of incompetence
and irrationality only expected in the upper echelons of "a certain
country's" hierarchy.

It would seem that her greatest mistake was being accused of doing the
wrong crime. In a country where you can plan the subsequently
successful murder of over 200 people, mostly foreigners, including 88
Australians,
and subsequently receive a 3 year jail term for your efforts, and
expect to be out in far less than that, she was clearly accused of the
wrong crime. In a country where you can murder a NZ soldier and cut
off his ears as trophies and receive a similar sentence to the mass
murderer, she clearly got it all wrong. Being accused of being a
terrorist or 'simple' murderer would seem far less onerous.

Of course, the average visitor to Bali in future is unlikely to face
such problems. Chances are, if YOU visit you'll be OK. The odds of
you, or your partner, or your family being framed for drug importation
are quite small. Not really anything to worry about at all. Do you
anticipate going there anytime soon?

But all is not as clear-cut as it may seem. The sad thing is, the
anti-Bali backlash is liable to be huge, and deservedly so. This
incident has every prospect of doing to Indonesia what the film
"Midnight Express" did to the Turkish tourism industry. BUT those who
will suffer will be the Balinese locals who depend on tourists for the
vast majority of their income. After struggling to win back the
tourists after the bombing, the judiciary and military of their own
country have now delivered them a body blow which will make the
effects of the bombing seem insignificant. And they have no part in
the injustices wrought by their masters. The response will harm the
innocent and fail to markedly affect those responsible. And that's not
justice either.


            RM

________________________

Any doubts?
Read this

        http://sunday.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/cover_stories/transcript_1775.asp

________________________

Related:

        http://talkleft.com/new_archives/010870.html

        http://news.ninemsn.com.au/timeline.aspx

        http://sunday.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/cover_stories/article_1775.asp

        http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&q=%22boycott+bali%22&meta=

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