Why did Australians react differently to Bali Nine? Sudirman Nasir, Melbourne
As an Indonesian who is currently living and studying in Australia, it is interesting to compare the reaction of Australians and Australian mass media towards the so-called 'Bali 9' members, to that of Schapelle Corby, Michelle Leslie and Nguyen Thuong Van. Bali 9 is a media term used to refer to nine young Australians who were arrested by the Indonesian police in Denpasar last year for attempting to smuggle 20 kilograms of heroin into Australia. The Denpasar District Court handed down life sentences for each of seven Bali 9 members, and the death penalty for the two ring leaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. It was obvious that most Australians expressed sympathy for Corby and Leslie, two Australian girls who were arrested and stood trial due for possession of drugs, marijuana and ecstasy respectively. Lower levels of sympathy were also demonstrated for Nguyen, another young Aussie who was hanged in Singapore in December 2005 after being found guilty of heroin smuggling. The cases of Corby, Leslie and Nguyen attracted enormous public debate and triggered emotional reactions, but such responses were all but absent for the Bali 9. The results of a reader's poll conducted by The Age published on Feb. 16 revealed that despite the fact that two of the Bali 9 had been sentenced to death, 57 percent of respondents maintained that the punishment was not harsh enough. The result of the poll was surprising, especially as capital punishment has not been used in Australia since 1966. Even Prime Minister John Howard refused to criticize the death penalty for Chan and Sukumaran. Howard warned that despite his excellent rapport with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, it was unlikely that the Indonesian leader would give the two drug smugglers clemency. So why do Australians have a different attitude towards the Bali 9? Firstly, unlike Corby, the Bali 9 members were arrested with a large amount of heroin in their possession, a far more lethal drug compared to marijuana. Corby was arrested with approximately 4 kg of marijuana and Leslie with less than five pills of ecstasy. It was clear that the Bali 9, particularly Chan and Sukumaran, were frequent high-level drug traffickers. Though Nguyen had been involved in heroin trafficking, the fact that it was his first time and his confession that he did it in a bid to pay off the debts of his twin brother, significantly distinguished him from high profile drug dealers like Chan and Sukumaran. Secondly, the image of Corby, Leslie and Nguyen had successfully touched the hearts of many Australians. In the case of Corby and Leslie, the combination of beauty, gender and race inevitably made it easier for them to attract attention. Both Corby and Leslie were "telegenic" as Terry O'Gorman, the president of the Australian Council of Civil Liberties, put it. O'Gorman said, "I know it is a cynical thing to say, but they were white, female and pretty". (The Age, Feb. 18). According to O'Gorman, "telegenic" refers to the images or people or events that can easily attract media attention, especially on commercial television. Moreover, in the case of Nguyen, an Australian young man of Vietnamese descent, although he was not as "telegenic" as Corby and Leslie, the role of Melbourne barrister Lex Lasry to transform the image of Nguyen into a good and naive boy who tried his best to help his bad twin brother had the effect of creating a more positive media image for him. The Bali 9 have no such image, and efforts to promote a positive image of them have not been successful. The efforts of some parents of the Bali 9, especially Christine Rush, the mother of one of the drug mules, Scott Rush, to change the term 'Bali 9' to the 'Australian 9', were aimed at depicting them as young and naive Australians who were trapped by an international drug syndicate. Australians are surprised by their vulnerability to international drug syndicates. And there are no guarantees that the harsh sentences handed out to the Bali 9 will stop the syndicates. Many studies in the field of drug trafficking and drug abuse have shown that harsh punishments alone do not deter drug dealers. It is a fact that no country is safe from being penetrated by international drug rings. The lesson learned from a country like Australia, and also from Canada, the Netherlands and others, is their relative success in integrating drug harm-reduction programs. The basic principle of this approach is that law enforcement against drugs is necessary, but not sufficient by itself. Demand reduction and harm reduction are other key elements that need to be taken into account. The writer is a postgraduate student at the University of Melbourne, currently writing thesis entitled Drug subculture and the social context of HIV-risk behaviors among injecting drug users in Makassar, Indonesia. He can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20060223.E02&irec=2 Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
