Bring Schapelle home!! Boycott Bali

putting it out there...

Dude, I'm chronic. I jonsed for a month when I went to Thailand because I was scared shitless of Thai jails. This idiot got what she deserved and if she wasn't a hot chick this wouldn't make the news. Men get thrown into jail in Asia every day for this sort of thing and it doesn't make the news. At the Bangkok Hilton, the guards like to play pornos on Friday nights for the inmates, who then proceed to gangrape white boys stupid enough to end up in a Thai jail. One Kiwi I drank with told me about his brother who spent 20 years in a Thai jail; they only let him out early from his life sentence for possessing drugs because he was HIV positive from all fo the gangraping. She's lucky she's not a guy. Anyhoo, her father got popped for posession too, btw, and given the evidence I've read she's guilty as hell.

David ..why would anyone want to import pot into Bali when the amount that she had in her bag was worth alot more over here than it would be over there?

Why wasnt the drugs found at Brisbane or Sydney Airport before she left Australia and only found when she arrived in Bali?

Why wasnt the drugs tested to see where they were grown? Why wasnt the bag fingerprinted to see if her fingerprints were on the bag?

The same day David that she was caught was the same day a shipment of cocaine was put through our airports by baggage handlers, this evidence was given to the balinese courts.

Man she didnt do it. It is so clear.

I can not conceive of someone that age actually not knowing how fucking dangerous it is to bring nine pounds of pot into bali.

I can not conceive of someone that age actually not knowing how fucking dangerous it is to bring nine pounds of pot into bali.

I can not conceive of someone that age actually not knowing how fucking dangerous it is to bring nine pounds of pot into bali.

I can not conceive of someone that age actually not knowing how fucking dangerous it is to bring nine pounds of pot into bali.

The point is... I dont think it was her that brought it in! What is happening is the the baggage handlers in Aus are putting the drugs in peoples bags.. on the day she was caught a whole shipment of cocaine was passed through with the baggage handlers and it was given as evidence by our government to the indonesians.

'This is a slap in the face of all Asutralians especially those who have helped in the recent tragedies in Indonesia and lost their lives for them.'

Schappelle Corby - guilty or innocent? I honestly don't know PB, but unless you are privy to some very esoteric inside information I think your proclamation of her innocence ('Man she didnt do it. It is so clear.') is a little naive. What is clear is that this trial has no connection whatsoever to the tsunami, or to any Australian humanitarian aid generated in its aftermath. No one slapped MY face. Some reports today even cite certain misguided Australians 'demanding' the return of money they donated months ago to tsunami relief charities. Well, shame on them - they tarnish the altruism of their original actions. You cannot add provisos and conditions to the small print after the event.

PB, if as appears you genuinely feel that this constitutes a miscarriage of justice, then fight it on its own terms - not in terms of some perceived moral superiority on the basis of earlier, unrelated events. And as for your 'one of our own' comment ... well, that's the top of a very slippery ethical slope. Suffice to say that as far as I'm concerned Schappelle Corby's life is no MORE important than those of any of the Indonesians the Australian people rallied to assist.

PS. By the way, David St. Hubbins may sound cynical, but he is absolutely right about her gender and photogenic qualities playing a major part in all the publicity this case has generated in Australia. Personally, if I hear her referred to even once more as a 'young Gold Coast beautician' I think I'll puke. Good job she's not a fat ugly bruiser from Woodridge with tatts up his arms and a ring through his nose - he'd be guilty for sure.

(1) 'Why wasnt the drugs found at Brisbane or Sydney Airport before she left Australia and only found when she arrived in Bali?'
(2) 'The same day David that she was caught was the same day a shipment of cocaine was put through our airports by baggage handlers, this evidence was given to the balinese courts.'

Phoenixboi, you can hardly argue a coherent defence based on (1) confidence in the rigour of Australian customs on one hand, and (2) evidence of systematic criminal circumvention of Australian customs by airport staff on the other.

Re. the first of your arguments, I have a hypothetical question for you ... A young woman from Indonesia is arrested and charged with having nine pounds of marijuana in her luggage upon arrival in Australia. She protests her innocence on the basis that she wasn't stopped from leaving Indonesia, so the drugs were obviously planted.

Do you find that convincing? I don't. I'm still not saying that Schapelle Corby is guilty, just that it will take more than blind faith and the fact that she is Australian / young / female / photogenic / apt to cry in court before I am convinced that she is not. Perhaps the difference is that some of us are a little less objective about such things when it's 'one of our own'.

I drove into Brisbane early this morning. Someone had hung a banner over the freeway emblazoned with the legend 'Honk if you h8 Bali'. A moronic presenter on a local radio station told us all that we had a patriotic duty to boycott Bali because 'Schappelle is innocent, there's absolutely no doubt about it whatsoever'. Makes you feel proud. Not.

Furry, if this case was handled here in Australia it would have been thrown out of court. The evidence was tampered with, there were no scientific analysis of the drugs or of the bag it was contained in. The only proof the INdonesian government has that she is guilty is that it was her bag, that is all.

Even after numerous witnesses to her case and government eidence handed over to the indonesian government still this verdict was handed down. Nothing that was presented was taken into account.

Now do you see me saying the same things about the 9 idiots who had the heroine strapped to them? They are also Aussies, but clearly they are guilty.

For me it has nothing to do with her being photogenic or young or anything. (if you dont know already im gay and her appearance has no bearing on what I believe to be true.)

Furry, it makes no sense why someone would smuggle Pot INTO Bali. It is worth nothing over there. If she was smuggling it OUT of Bali then alot of it would make sense.

Considering that the Australian baggage handlers are now under question, alot of evidence about baggage tampering has been shown especially with the shipment of cocaine on the same day Shapelle was arrested. I dont have confidence in Australian customs especially after this. so i dont know where you come from when you say :

1) confidence in the rigour of Australian customs on one hand, and (2) evidence of systematic criminal circumvention of Australian customs by airport staff on the other.

I also find it highly disgusting how the mastermind of the BAli bombings which killed and injured many Australians only gets 4 years jail when it was Proven without a doubt that this terrorist was responsible, while Shapelle with her case not proven without a doubt, is given a sentence of 20 years! THIS DOES NOT MAKE SENSE OR IS JUSTICE TO ME!.

Therefore our government and people should put pressure on the Indonesians, not only to release her to our officials but to look into the corruption that is exhisting. (its a long call im aware) but I beliee the Australian people will demonstrate with their feet.

'Furry, if this case was handled here in Australia it would have been thrown out of court.'
Nice to see you have such unswerving faith in the legal system that locked up Cornelia Rau, wrongly deported Vivian Solon (and then hid the fact), and continues to keep migrant children locked up for periods of years in detention centres. Silly argument though. The case wasn't handled in Australia, nor was there any reason it should have been. Corby was arrested in Indonesia and tried under Indonesian law. I'm not saying Indonesian law is necessarily right, or that she's necessarily guilty, but - as I pointed out in my previous comment - try reversing the nationalities and see how it sounds. When in Rome and all that.

'For me it has nothing to do with her being photogenic or young or anything. (if you dont know already im gay and her appearance has no bearing on what I believe to be true.)'
Yes I did know you're gay, but I didn't say this. I agreed with David St. Hubbins that these attributes have played 'a major part in all the publicity this case has generated in Australia'. I said nothing about your individual motives.

'Furry, it makes no sense why someone would smuggle Pot INTO Bali.'
Perhaps not, although 'It is worth nothing over there' is certainly overstating the case. Regardless, lack of obvious motive / evidence of stupidity does not equate to innocence.

'I dont have confidence in Australian customs especially after this. so i dont know where you come from when you say: 1) confidence in the rigour of Australian customs on one hand, and (2) evidence of systematic criminal circumvention of Australian customs by airport staff on the other.'
Sorry, thought I'd made this clear. My point is simply this - if you dont have confidence in Australian customs, you have an answer to your other question, viz. 'Why wasnt the drugs found at Brisbane or Sydney Airport before she left Australia'.

'the mastermind of the BAli bombings which killed and injured many Australians'
And Indonesians, don't forget.

Please read what I'm saying PB - I am NOT saying that she's guilty, only that I abhor the uncritical acceptance of her innocence, and the thinly disguised prejudice against Indonesia this is generating. As with certain isolated acts of violence against Moslems after 11 September 2001, how long before 'Honk if you h8 Bali?' escalates into acts of violence against Indonesians in Australia?

how long before 'Honk if you h8 Bali?' escalates into acts of violence against Indonesians in Australia?

Well hopefully it wont get to that. It isnt about the indonesian people it is about their justice system, unfortunately diplomacy doesnt work in these countries and Australians need to unite here and make their voices heard.

'Diplomacy doesnt work in these countries ...'
THESE countries? That's more than enough. My part in this discussion is over.

guilty or not, this is fucked. it is heresay and guilty until proven innocent and we all fucking know it. Justice will be heard here or karma will have its own. That is a promise not a threat.

THESE countries? That's more than enough. My part in this discussion is over.

why cause you dont see that corruption is rife?

'why cause you dont see that corruption is rife?'
No because this comment betrays your fundamental racism. Shame on you.

No because this comment betrays your fundamental racism. Shame on you

I am not racist and resent you calling me one!

'I am not racist and resent you calling me one!'
Not your call. Deny it all you like, but your sentiments above tell a different story.

'I am not racist and resent you calling me one!' Not your call. Deny it all you like, but your sentiments above tell a different story.

What comment tells you that he's a racist? Can you show me? No, I didn't think you could!

From the Guardian Weekly, June 3-9 2005:
'Some commentators have remarked that it is curious that Corby has won so much sympathy, while three other Australians who are on death row for drug offences in Singapore and Vietnam have won so little. The three are male and of Vietnamese origin.'

How does that make me racist Furry?

My response to Schapelle Corby has nothing to do with the fact that she is female or white. It has to do with what I believe to be true. Not what the media has told me.

That's ok we shall just wait and see..

If anything good has come from all this is that the shake up of our security system at all ports and airports has begun.

That was a quote from a newspaper article. I didn't claim that it makes you a racist. But I bet you don't even know the names, let alone the circumstances, of the three OTHER Australians currently facing much more serious sentences overseas for drug offences.

'Diplomacy doesnt work in these countries ...' - as I said before, to my mind betrays a racist attitude. What do you mean by 'these countries'? What single scrap of evidence do you have for your assertion that diplomacy doesn't work in them? If that is the case, why on earth does Australia have diplomats permanently posted in Indonesia? No, it's far easier to forget the difficult, complex, multi-faceted truth of the situation and just apply a nice catch-all label ... and that's where racism starts.