Comments on: Don’t Boycott Bali

By: sydneydave

sydneydave — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 07:35:44 +0000

The reason alot of aussies think that shes innocent has nothing to do with her anglosaxon features or what race she is , its more to do with logical deductions and the circumstances . She dosent fit the profile and of course people can say whats the profile etc , but not only dosent she fit the profile it dosent make any sense no matter how you look at it .For one the drugs are worth 10 times the amount in australia and having been to bali before on numerous occasions like corby , the one thing you know is that youd have to mad to take drugs in or out of indonesia knowing that the death penalty applies . I belive it was planted for the pure reason that days before one of the muslim clerics was sentenced for his part in bombings .It also seems apparent that 2 days ago 3 bombs went of again bali which coincides with the fact that 3 people were just charged over the australian embassy bombing .Am i the only one that sees these coincidences ? Can anyone suggest if this fits in with a muslim extremist system of law ,like an eye for an eye etc . I think theres definately something there .The other thing i have a problem with is lets say schappele is guilty , do you think it makes sense to give organisers of bombings a far lighter sentence than someone with marujuana , i think its like a slap in the face .As far as the tourist trade there goes half of the balinese couldnt care less for us australians all they care about is the money we provide ,an example of this is in the recent bombings locals were trying to convince toruist that it was only a gas cylinder exploding .Maybe if we boycott bali the balinese might be abit less accepting of the bombers and there organisations and abit more apprecaitive of tourist.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 10:31:25 +0000

I’m sure Ally came here from the massive number of google hits for Schapelle related content - but anyway, thanks for the comment!

By: Nic White

Nic White — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 10:22:40 +0000

Thread necromancy!

By: ally reynolds

ally reynolds — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 03:15:47 +0000

and her schapelle is so innocent and i believe she shouldnt be in jail at all!!

By: ally reynolds

ally reynolds — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 03:13:33 +0000

heya i love this site

By: Amanda

Amanda — Mon, 30 May 2005 22:43:26 +0000

I don’t see it as necessarily xenophobia, more yet another indication of how little it takes to bring out the worst in people.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 30 May 2005 21:59:56 +0000

wbb, the drug in that case was cocaine. The point was that the person was convicted and punished according to the laws of this country, as has Corby in Indonesia, for being unable to provide a verifiable explanation for how the package was in their bag.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 30 May 2005 13:45:33 +0000

Have a read of some of the comments on the message boards, wbb. And the news tonight reported firebombing threats against Indonesian businesses in Australia. After s11, a schoolbus full of kids going to an Islamic school in Brisbane was stoned, and mosques firebombed. The media has a grave duty not to encourage such attitudes which readily manifest in violence against Australian citizens and their institutions as well.

By: wbb

wbb — Mon, 30 May 2005 13:34:04 +0000

Those attitudes are eternal and will inevitably arise whenever sufficiently emotive conditions constellate.

There’s nothing to be done about that.

So therefore the role of the media as the instrument which can concentrate such feelings into a dangerous force is critical. Is why once the media has moved on, things will be fine after a period. Which is to say they’ll be as they were before.

imho, you over-emphasise the xenophobic content of the public emotion. The xenophobia is the yellowy fleck on the crest of a wave that was born out of human sympathy for the plight of an individual.

Outliers of public expression, no matter how vicious, are outliers but of course they are reported and thus become falsely representative of the general mood.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 30 May 2005 13:07:41 +0000

Yeah, wbb, but the attitudes that allow the media to mobilise public opinion in this direction were there before Channel 9, the papers and the shock jocks weighed in, and will persist (probably strengthened) after they’ve moved on.

By: wbb

wbb — Mon, 30 May 2005 12:29:43 +0000

Public reaction is all over the shop at the moment. Not worth making too many harsh judgements until things settle down a bit when the shock jocks move on and find something fresher to gnaw on.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 30 May 2005 12:20:49 +0000

I’m with Amanda on this one. Imagine the reaction if there was a national disaster in Australia and people in New Zealand refused to donate because of our violations of the human rights of asylum seekers. You don’t use compassion as a political weapon no matter what the cause. Or rather, you shouldn’t.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Mon, 30 May 2005 08:19:09 +0000

Youre right wbb. “evil” in the colloquial sense. (Nelson is evil!) certaintly devoid of all compassion which makes me wonder why they would donate in the first place.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Mon, 30 May 2005 07:58:59 +0000

I agree with Mr. Lefty and Niali. Just don’t go there. It is only common sense that you don’t go somewhere where you are threatened. It’s simple cause and effect. It may be a sad thing for the people of Bali, who are not to blame for draconian laws, but it’s a free market, and I’m glad if the people who rule Indonesia with such laws and judges pay for their choices.

By: MrLefty

MrLefty — Mon, 30 May 2005 07:00:11 +0000

I’m with Niall on this - I don’t see how a sensible person could go to Bali (unless they were there specifically to visit something in Bali which couldn’t be seen elsewhere) given alternative sun & surf destinations that DON’T involve putting yourself at risk of the death penalty for having your bag tampered with.

Visiting Indonesia is still worthwhile, in the same sense that visiting North Korea is worthwhile - it’s educational. But it’s bloody dangerous.

By: The 52nd State

The 52nd State — Mon, 30 May 2005 06:55:46 +0000

Schapelle Corby Inc.

This is just a snapshot of the complete and utter hysteria that has followed the verdict - the triumph of emotion over pragmatism, fact and common sense. You can see it everywhere and it’s frankly a cultural embarrassment. I even got hate mail for th…

By: wbb

wbb — Mon, 30 May 2005 06:51:21 +0000

What was the drug, Michael?

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 30 May 2005 06:45:39 +0000

I sat on a jury in Australia recently involving a person with a bag that contained a trafficable amount of drugs. Despite having a QC put forward all sorts of arguments not dissimilar to Corby’s, the person was found guilty and recieved a sentence of 4 years.

The slagging off of the Indonesian legal system in the wake of the Corby decision is just plain embarrasing.

Why were the Bali 9 arrested in Indonesia instead of being alowed to return to Australia? The ‘War on Drugs’ got a whole week of front page publicity because Aussie boys and girls may face the death penalty. A week later a bust in Australia, with more than twice the amount of drugs involved, barely made page three and promptly died.

By: wbb

wbb — Sun, 29 May 2005 12:36:53 +0000

Evil is a bit strong, Amanda. Overwrought perhaps.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sun, 29 May 2005 10:33:25 +0000

News just reported pople only donating to Red Shield appeal today on condition the money didn’t go to Indonesia.

Probably a channel ten beat up but anyone who did say that? Is fragging evil.