Part 1

Many Australians are angry Schapelle Corby is sweating in a cell this morning. They say the evidence she owned the four kilos of marijuana found in her luggage at Bali airport was not conclusive, and it could have been planted by drug-running airport baggage handlers. They argue that elements of the case against her do not make sense, saying that taking marijuana to Bali is a case of coals to Newcastle. And they point to the unfamiliar noise of the courtroom and complain the Indonesian legal system is unfair. The anger unleashed by this conviction is understandable. Corby is an all-Australian girl. Parents around the country look at her, see a reflection of their own kids, and react accordingly. And so many Australians visit Bali, some of us forget the writ of our law does not run there. But what we think does not matter a hill of beans. Indonesia is a foreign country where they do things differently, just as they choose. Until we know the grounds for the promised appeal there is no apparent evidence that Corby did not receive a fair trial under the applicable laws. Despite the gratuitous comments of Australians who should know better, and the intrusive behaviour of Australian television crews, the Indonesian judges conducted themselves with care. Nor was the punishent outrageous compared with the death sentence that could have been applied.The most important question is what happens now. Corby is just one of 155 Australians the Department of Foreign Affairs says are serving sentences in prisons overseas. Some 46 of them are in Asian jails. And she is far better off than the Australians facing execution in Vietnam and Singapore. There is nothing special our government could, or should, do to help her, beyond the assistance any Australian in her situation is entitled to. And while Corby has captured public sympathy, our greatest efforts should be reserved for citizens who are at risk of execution. Nor can Australia solicit an agreement with Indonesia to bring Corby home to serve her sentence here straightaway. That will require negotiation of a mutual prisoner return treaty. Certainly the prospect of a young woman trapped in the destitution of a culturally alien Indonesian prison is unsettling. But while Australia has a prisoner exchange program with Thailand no such arrangement is in place with Indonesia. It would be good for such a deal to be done, but not solely to suit the circumstances of a single prisoner. Many Australians feel the pain of this family, with a loved child in a foreign jail, but justice and sympathy are not synonymous.