Published The Advocate, May 7, 2005


SO NOW we wait: Schapelle Corby sits in a Balinese jail, accused of importing 4kg of marijuana into Indonesia and looking at spending her life in prison. It might have been a firing squad for her had not the Indonesian prosecutors instead recommended life behind bars - the expected outcome when the verdict is handed down within the month. My life is over, Ms Corby said. Quite. We watched her make an emotional courtroom plea to be set free, declaring her innocence and asking to be allowed to go home. If she is innocent, life imprisonment is a terrible fate. If she is guilty, it is still a terrible fate. Many people believe she is the hapless victim of a drug smuggling operation in this country, and the bag of marijuana was mistakenly placed in her bag at the airport before she left Australia. It certainly defies logic to imagine Ms Corby would place a plastic bag of marijuana, the size of a pillow, inside a boogie board cover and expect it to pass through Customs. Also, most people I know cannot believe anyone would take marijuana to Bali where the drug is so widely available and cheap. People take drugs from Bali to Australia, not the other way around. The Bali 9, accused of attempting to smuggle heroin from Indonesia to Australia, were following in the footsteps of hundreds of other drug ``mules’’ over many years. If it was Ms Corby’s marijuana, she was headed in the wrong direction. Even so, life in prison is too high a price to pay for stupidity. I have no particular issue with the Indonesian justice system, which is based on the presumption of innocence despite pub talk to the contrary. Similar systems apply in some European countries, notably Holland. Of more concern is the outrageous penalty Ms Corby faces. One of the bedrocks of any justice system is the punishment must fit the crime. Not all crimes are of the same seriousness and all penalties should not be the same. The sentence for manslaughter is less than for murder. There has to be a sliding scale. Speaking of sliding scales, Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiah, a terrorist arm of al-Qaeda, is in jail in Indonesia for his involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians. While not doing the bombings himself, Bashir was found guilty of conspiring with the bombers. He gave them his blessing to do their evil. In Australian eyes, Bashir was as guilty as sin, no room for doubt. The prosecutors sought eight years. He received 30 months. Go figure. On my scale of justice, trafficking marijuana is less serious than terrorist mass murder, yet Bashir will be a free man by the end of next year and Ms Corby will be sitting in her cell. We all need to travel otherwise we begin think everyone else is like us. Just don’t travel in bad company, don’t carry drugs and lock your bags.