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| Boogie board blues | |
Australians love travel, but they don't seem very good at behaving
themselves when they go overseas. They generally don't do antisocial things
like fly planes into tall buildings or strap on explosive vests, but they do
stupid things. Like baring their buttocks at the Eiffel tower, picking up a
social disease in Bangkok or smuggling drugs in Bali. Recently beauty student Schapelle Corby was caught with 4 Kilos of
dope coming into Bali, and all Australia witnessed her pleading for her life in
a courtroom in the second most corrupt country in the world. Clearly she didn't
know who to bribe. 'Beauty student' is normally a euphemism for 'pretty, but
not too bright', Schapelle's cute looks support the euphemism,
but, like the question of her innocence or guilt, distract from the real issues
of the case. Not that her innocence or guilt is not interesting in itself. For instance, why would anyone smuggle 4Ks of dope into Bali? It's
much cheaper there, and you don't have to run the risk of having your bags
searched at the airport. Taking in enough to party with you and your mates is
admirable, but 4 Kilos is a pretty stoned party. How long were they going to
stay? How many of them were there? No point taking a boogie board - you'd be
too stoned to find the water. Schapelle's defense that a baggage handler may have been trying to smuggle
dope from Brisbane to Sydney via a passenger's baggage didn't really float
though. Anyone who wanted to smuggle drugs from Brisbane to Sydney would
hardly run the risk of bringing it into a secure area, and the further risk of
it not being picked up at the other end. The safest way to smuggle anything
from Brisbane to Sydney is to get someone to drive a registered, ordinary
looking family car, and stay under the speed limit the whole way. However if you wanted to smuggle drugs overseas it would be a very
different matter. Passenger's baggage would be the go. And indeed charges have
recently been laid against QANTAS baggage handlers on drug smuggling matters. In spite of this revelation, the chief judge in Corby's trial was quoted in
today's Telegraph as saying that he couldn't take into account events which
happened in Australia. In other words it was irrelevant under
Indonesian law whether it was packed by Corby, or placed there by a baggage
handler? But these are distractions for armchair politicians and lawyers. The
tragedy is not related to her legal guilt or innocence. Who would have been harmed by Corby bringing in 4 Ks of weed? Would they
have forced it on anyone? Held someone down and administered it like a truth
serum in a B grade American thriller? What is the justification for locking
someone up for offering something to informed and consenting adults? Asking whether Corby is innocent or guilty is a bit like arguing whether a
rape victim initially got into her attacker's car willing or not. She may have
been stupid, but this is no excuse for initiating force against someone. The crime here is that a government has incarcerated the woman. Frying
your brain with chemicals might be stupid, but stupidity is any anyone's
right. Initiating force is not. At least she'll live. The Indonesians are not about to create an attractive martyr for the cause
of freedom. They will probably just leave her languishing in a filthy cell as a
warning to others. But the real message is don't go to Indonesia. The
civilized parts of the world are no less stupid, but they are less
brutal. Smoke a few jays and go surfing at Bondi. There's no place like home.
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