(9 June 1005. Note. I wrote this article on the afternoon of the Schapelle Corby verdict. I was angry, and I admit that what I wrote was “over the top” and excessive. I want to stress that I do not want another tsunami to happen to Indonesia. Australia should continue to supply aid to people who need it – including Indonesia. But I do not resile from the main thrust of what I wrote – that the Indonesian justice system is NOT just. Their human rights record is abysimal, and they deserve to be criticized fearlessly for these things. How else are things going to change?)
Unlike the civilized world, Indonesia has no comprehension of the doctrine of “Reasonable Doubt”. “Guilty until proven innocent” is the way of their judicial system.
A young Australian girl can be sentenced to 20 years in an Indonesian hell-hole because someone shoved some drugs in her bag.
There’s no reason to rehash the reasons she’s innocent. There is enough information on the public record to show that the incompetent cops in that unhappy country didn’t fingerprint the bag or weigh it. The myopic excuse for a judicial panel set aside crucial evidence from Australian baggage handlers, police and criminologists. Neanderthals in such a position of authority in that place would not even consider the ludicrous nature of a suggestion that someone would want to import pot into a place like Bali – more likely an exporter of narcotics rather than an importer.
The Antediluvian Archipelago has no respect for human life. Witness its brutality in East Timor and Aceh.
Even the most skeptical of us must wonder why it has suffered more earthquakes, bombings, and a massive Tsunami then ever before during the time they have imprisoned Schapelle Corby.
If there is some supreme being, all I can suggest is that she (or he) get on with it and send some bigger waves to wash this pitiful excuse of a legal system into the Indian Ocean.
And more mundanely, whoever doles out the foreign aid in Canberra – strike the Indo’s off the list. These troglodites don’t appreciate human life and don’t deserve it.
Oh, and while we’re at it, perhaps the crooks who REALLY committed this crime could make themselves useful and plant some more dope in bags going into Indonesia – preferably in the bags of Indo diplomats, judges, and government officials. Frame enough of them and perhaps someone will bang two rocks together and realize that this is one huge travesty of justice.
