Original Writing date 9th August 2010
Recently it was reported that Schapelle Corby, convicted somehow of drug trafficking in Bali, has suffered a mental break after years in Kerobokan Prison. It could be that she receives clemency from the court and their may be a reduction in her sentence. Maybe. This prompted me to do a bit of reading on her situation. After trawling the internet and reading her book “My Story”, I found myself feeling drained and helplessly frustrated for her. Yes, a 4.2 kilo bag of marijuana was found in her boogie board bag after she voluntarily showed it to Balinese Customs officers. But other than that, there was not a shred of evidence to indicate it was hers and not planted. Fingerprints were not taken. Airport security footage from Sydney Airport, from which she departed Australia, was destroyed. Baggage was not weighed on arrival and compared against its departure weight. Testimonies from other parties indicating her innocence were ignored; including that said airport had workers with criminal histories and was being looked at by Australian Federal Police previously. None of this was factored in. She didn’t stand a chance from the start. She was to be used as an example, guilty or not.
There was a public outcry in Australia when Corby was sentenced to 20 years for trafficking by the Balinese kangaroo court. The Australian government, I believe, did have some kind of dialogue with the Indonesian government and at one stage it looked like Schapelle was going to be allowed to serve out her sentence in Australia in some type of prisoner exchange, but the Indonesians suddenly became uncooperative and the deal was off. Because they are making shed-loads of money out of having Schapelle locked up in their prison, with media parasites exploiting her by paying for photos of her that they can sell on to Woman’s Day and all the other gossip rags.
And so that was that, then. Forget it.
And this is the crux of this column; Australia asked a favour of its tiny neighbor. A neighbor that receives aid money from Australia and a substantial chunk of tourism as well. Yet, they were unwilling to accommodate an important request. Worse yet, Australia appeared to have not taken umbrage to that. Prime Minister at the time Howard didn’t seem to do anything further at all. Oh well, tried. Off for a jog now, in my patriotic tracksuit…
Don’t get me wrong, I am not falling for any “Schapelle Hype”, (Gossip mags and sensationalist news programs are best avoided when you want facts) I am fully aware that there are many Aussies imprisoned overseas who don’t receive nearly so much media attention as Corby. But if you take the Bali Nine, for example, they were actually caught with drugs on them. That can’t be planted and there was a heck of a lot more evidence. Even the bird who nicked the bar mat was in fact guilty of the act.
Alexander Downer wrote an article last year in the Advertiser indicating that Australians overseas should be responsible for their own actions and have to accept the foreign countries laws and customs and abide by them. If you don’t, then you are on your own. Hey, I agree with Al. One hundred per cent.
But Corby’s case was dodgy from the get go. And we all know that if it was Downer’s kid locked in a Bali jail when he was Foreign Minister, or even Steve now for that matter, then there would have been an SAS strike to free her, as if it were an act of war.
‘Cos I would have for my kid. Everything changes when it’s in your own backyard.
And in this Pacific region back yard, Australia is the top dog. I’m not being biased; just look at the others. Whenever anything goes wrong, like in Fiji or East Timor for example, it is Australia that is expected to go in and get it sorted. And that’s fine, it’s a privilege. So long as these islands and smaller nations respect this and reciprocate appropriately.
But it seems that Australia is not respected anymore. And the people we have elected to power are reluctant to use it, unless asked to by an American.
So it seems that not only can Bali take aid and tourism dollars but it can also incarcerate our citizens without proper trial on trumped up charges, without evidence and even make a profit from them. And no one does anything about it.
PM Julia Gillard apparently is supportive of a clemency decision for Schapelle. But by the time this has gone to print and you are actually reading it, we will have had an election…. And being supportive is along way from a decisive action. Who knows maybe a female Prime Minister would be man enough to stand up for our nation and demand results?
But I will leave you with these thoughts; imagine yourself (or your sister or your daughter or any loved one, for that matter) locked up for years for something you didn’t do, that someone else did, and is getting away with it…
Imagine mentally reliving everyday, that fateful moment when you opened up your bag in a foreign airport to find it full of drugs that you didn’t put in there. Imagine being in a tiny disgusting cell, during the prime of your life when you were supposed to be out living and having fun. Imagine knowing the world had violated what was your life and turned it into nothing more than a story for magazines. Your old life was gone but everyone else’s was going on without you. Imagine knowing your mind is beginning to crack and there was nothing you could do about it because you were wrongly trapped in a prison with no one to help you.
So, how does it feel?
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