Thang Nguyen: The ugly ocker rears his racist head once more
The Australian
20 July 2005
Has the Schapelle Corby drama revived White Australia attitudes?
IN Australia, to paraphrase British political novelist George Orwell, all citizens "are equal, but some are more equal than others". This was made clear last week when Prime Minister John Howard wrote a letter to convicted Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby.
In a personal note to Howard earlier this month, Corby had pleaded: "I need your help to prove my innocence to the courts, release me from this nightmare and set me free." To which Howard replied: "I would like to take this opportunity to assure you that I will continue to take a personal interest in your case." He promised that Corby would get assistance from Canberra.
Meanwhile, as her lawyers have appealed, the Bali High Court has granted Corby a retrial, which starts today. The difference this time, however, is that there will be 12 witnesses from Australia who may get her free.
Howard's letter came after a series of what can be interpreted only as xenophobic acts since the 27-year-old beautician received a 20-year sentence on May 27 for smuggling 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali.
First, Australians told each other to boycott Bali holiday resorts and Indonesian products in Australia. Next, they regretted having made donations to Indonesian victims of the Asian tsunami and some issued death threats against Indonesian diplomats and civilians living in Australia.
Some enraged Australians sent bullets to the Indonesian consulate in Perth and twice sent a chemical powder, which turned out to be harmless, to the Indonesian embassy in Canberra. Worse, someone sent a package that also contained harmless chemical powder to Parliament House in Canberra and addressed it to their own Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, who on behalf of the federal Government had sent regrets for the previous incidents to the Indonesian Government.
Why can't these Australians see that a crime is a crime, regardless of where one commits it? Everyone is subject to the laws and punishments of the nation in which he or she commits a crime. An Indonesian who commits a crime in Australia falls immediately under Australian laws. If found guilty, he or she would have to face the consequence -- whether it is imprisonment or otherwise -- of his or her crime under those laws.
Most of what the Australian public saw on television on May 27 was a true-blue, young Australian woman facing stone-faced Indonesian judges and being taken by the arms by Indonesian police after the reading of her verdict. For many Australians, this image provoked nothing less than injustice done to an Australian on foreign soil.
Never mind that 45 Australians are facing drug-trafficking charges across Asia. And never mind that some have received more severe sentences than Corby's. Nguyen Tuong Van and Tran Van Thanh, for instance, have been convicted of drug-smuggling charges, and they both face death row in Singapore and Vietnam respectively.
Why don't these Australian citizens receive any attention or sympathy from the Australian public, let alone personal interest from their Prime Minister? Is it because their surnames are Nguyen and Tran? If this does not sound like racism, what does?
Of course, given Australian history, one should not be surprised that a broad group of Aussies is still xenophobic. Remember, it was only a few decades ago when the slogan "Australia for the White Man" was on the masthead of The Bulletin, the nation's most respected magazine. And who could forget Labor leader Arthur Calwell's "Two Wongs don't make a white"?
Sure, Australia has changed for the better since those dark days, notwithstanding Hansonism in the late 1990s. Just think of the many Asian Australians, their cuisines and diverse cultures that one can find today in Sydney, Melbourne and other places in Australia. Still, as Australians' reactions to the Corby case show, the spectre of White Australia haunts the nation. The message: a white or Aussie life is more valuable than a brown or Asian one. Justice may be blind, but for Australians it's not colour-blind.
Thang Nguyen is a Jakarta-based columnist, whose writing can be read at http://thangthecolumnist.blogspot.com
posted by Thang D. Nguyen at 8:00 PM
45 Comments:
Thang
Your observation of this country's xenophobia and racism is accurate, telling and deeply embarassing to many Australians.
We are so keen to pretend to be American that we think racism, arrogance and superiority is the appropraite behaviour.
The efforts of our current government and, in particular, the prime minister to use race and terror as political weapons to further his own personal and ideological goals is shameful and something that many Australians can't wait to end.
Please be patient with us, one day Australia will regain it's senses and realise it's true worth and position in the world as well as the value of others including it's neighbours.
Why dont you give the complete details of the 2 men on death row rather than playing the old rascism card.
Nguyen Tuong Van - caught with 400g of heroin AND HE ADMITTED TO SMUGGLING THE HEROIN.
Tran Van Thanh - a member of a drug smuggling ring was caught red handed trying to smuggle 682g of herion to Australia
There was NO DOUBT about their guilt as there is no doubt about the 9 morons recently caught in Bali. But there is doubt about Corby.
Well written, well said and so true except for one thing. You tend to use the word Australians a lot. I am australian but i certainly am not like what you are describing and neither are a lot of my friends. Please dont generalise and become just like an australian.
I am an Australian in Indonesia and i wouldnt chose to work and live anywhere else. I wouldnt survive with the attitude you have described.
Great observation and keep writing
This is utter nonsense. The "Bali Nine", many of whom are pure "ocker" kids, are repeatedly and overwhelming condemned to their fate by Australian opinion polls. Why? Because they are unquestionably guilty. This alone puts the lie to your cheap and racist assertion.
In Corby's case there is reasonable doubt, and the Indonesian judicial system does not appear to the observer to effectively give a fair presumption of innocence. They don’t allow a “fair go”.
Of course another major factor is the Indonesian legal system’s provision of unmatched dramatic TV footage, and Corby’s very convincing performance.
Anyone with even a casual familiarity with Indonesia knows that it’s a culture riven with deadly racism and evil religious hatred that includes endless murder and terror of both the mass and individual variety. There is no evidence that Indonesian culture has any significant self-awareness of its violent and murderous pathologies, nor any serious propensity to move to a higher level of civil society. As for Viet Nam, it’s just one vast totalitarian prison for its whole population. These incontestable facts are the valid reasons for Australians refusal to apply moral equivalence to these societies.
Mr Nguyen’s condemnation of Australia as xenophobic is intellectually dishonest and fatuous to the extreme. Australia has the second highest proportion of foreign-born residents of any country in the world after Israel. It has welcomed this massive demographic change with perhaps historically unprecedented civility. Indonesia and Vietnam kill, persecute, and imprison anyone who dares to be different.
Mr Nguyen, stop lying to yourself and to us. You need a bit of Aussie common sense.
Why must the race card be pulled all the time? Have you ever thought that perhaps the reason the Australians in prison with Asian surnames are guilty and that Corby is not?
Your article is ridiculous and as a proud Australian living overseas I am appalled at your attitude. Australia is a melting pot of all cultures.
I know for a fact that you would find that regardless of a persons skin colour, or surname, if an Australian was wrongly imprisoned for a crime - Aussies would step up to help.
Dont tar us with the same brush - there are racists the world over, it is up to all os us (including you) to stamp racism out.
An interesting set of comments and very emotive article. I find it completely ironic that Australians in general travel very well and as such are some of the most effective/ well respected expatriates across Asia. Certainly as Andrew suggests, they would not earn this reputation as xenophobes.
Conversely we have seen our own government betray some of the ideals/ practices that have made Asia a fantastic home for many of us. A great many Australian residents dismiss these tactics and are people with whom I am proud to share a passport.
Unfortunately however, as Thang suggests, a material proportion of people still need to evolve. This will happen for most - think of the changes of attitude over the last twenty years. My hope is that with questions raised by Thang and responses such as those voicing concern about generalisation - that we will all think a little more about these issues, and the evolutionary process will be accelerated. And as Australians we must be able to achieve this without the artificial political correctness of some other nations.
I guess that one of the sad aspects of your article is that it appeared, presumably, in an Indonesian publication (as well as in The Australian newspaper)and was read by many Indonesians. Unfortunately many of them will probably not read your blog and see the other side of the picture, the Australians who will argue with you rationally that Australia is not a bastion of "xenophobia and racism" as your two weak examples try to prove, but that here, like in virtually every country, there is a small minority of racists.
I think that racism is in general a product of ignorance. Ignorance implies a lack of education. Australians happen to be one of the most educated nationalities on the planet and so logically racism is at a low level here vis a vis other countries.
I am fortunate in having spent a lot of time in Indonesia, both working and as a tourist and spent a year formally studying Bahasa Indonesia and the Indonesian culture. I've always found Indonesians very easy to get on with and found no antagonism toward me or other Australians or toward Australia as a country.
Unfortunately some politically motivated individuals try to create tensions between peoples to suit their own agendas. I've bookmarked your blog and look forward to scanning past articles to find some that are favorable to Australia, to assure me that you're not one of these. Best wishes to you.
That a few people may have acted emotionally and 'regretted having made Tsunami donations' following Schappelle's conviction does nothing to lessen the overwhelming generosity of Australians in the wake of that tragic event.
To a logical person, the fact that most recipients of the assistance were in fact brown Muslims might indicate that the majority Australians are generally indifferent to race or religion especially when people are in serious trouble. We are a country that invented the expression 'fair go'.
Nguyen and Tran are clearly guilty and were caught fair and square. Many Australians however feel that Schapelle Corby is innocent and has not been given a 'fair go'. Following her sentencing a few may have protested in unacceptable ways - but still falling well short of bombing nightclubs or causing physical harm to others in order to make their point. Should we judge your country by its extremists?
Sorry Thang, the racism being exposed here is your own. It is a sad indictment that The Australian saw fit to publish your offensive drivel.
Dear Thang,
Your article raises some vaild points but is also guilty of slipping into the stereotypes you take aim at. For someone with as impressive an education as yourself you are far too quick to paint with a very broad brush, as Andrew K noted. Your paragraph about Bali boycotts and tsunami donations reads as if all Australians felt this way, which is wrong. Unless this was intentional, please be more careful with your wording.
I often find Asians have very outdated and stereotyped views of Australia, always falling back on the old Bulletin/Calwell chestnuts. I have had so many Asians friends visit and tell me they expected to find the people a cross between the Crocodile Hunter and Pauline Hanson and are surprised at the diversity they see instead. BTW, you are right about the timing of The Bulletin and its masthead, it only desisted in 1961, which surprised me, I had thought it was much longer ago. However, Answers.com notes that by the 1940's it was already a sad relic filled with "racist bile ... that was almost comic". Again, the idea that it represented majority Australian opinion until recently is clearly implied by you, and this is wrong.
You are right to point out some of the hysteria surrounding the Corby case but this was a tabloid-led campaign trying to boost their ratings. And as others have noted, there is some doubt about her guilt, although this does not excuse the few morons who called for a boycott.
Australia is an immigrant democracy, like the USA and Canada with a broad range of peoples/opinions/views and thus you can find all sorts here. I have just farewelled a 6-month neighbour, a Brit of Indian background. In contrast to faustino, she asserted strongly that Sydney is much less racist than Britain, so there you go.
Here are some facts about Aust vs Indonesia: no Australian has bombed an Asian embassy with loss of life; Chinese-origin citizens have not been murdered in ethnic cleansing paybacks in recent years; and we have far more ethnic diversity than Indonesia. There are people from every country on Earth living here. Given this, the low level of friction is remarkable. The mayor of Melbourne is Chinese-Australian and we have democratically elected a female Asian lesbian to the Senate. BTW, Hanson never called for violence against Asians.
When Condoleezza Rice visited China recently, a local website was quoted: "How come the US selects a female chimpanzee as Secretary of State?" Perhaps you should turn your ire on China?
Australia is not perfect, not by a long shot, but on the issue of multiculturalism we are way ahead of most. Sam Ly was the first Australian to die in the London bombings and received wide and sympathetic coverage. He was of Asian background.
Hopefully no-one reading this has falsely stereotyped me as an Anglo Aussie throwback, because I am not. Like many Aussies I have a mixed background, in my case Austrian/Celtic. My best mate from school of 20 years standing is an AB Chinese. An Asian friend was so close to my mum she considers me her adopted brother. I have many Asian friends and my last girlfriend was Japanese so I know something about Asia. I am not a rep for all Australians but there are many like me. If Asia and Australia are to move beyond stereotypes we need to go from the macro view of each other to the micro, so let's get the process underway.
Regards, Adrian
Thang,
when I first read you article in todays paper I was a little put out. You had taken a few minor, foolish comments (threat to Indon Embassy aside)and potrayed them as representative of the the entire Australian nation. This is not the case. I currently work with Indonesians (in Aust), and have done so on a number of occaisions in both our countries. They quite clearly understood that the (quite frankly stupid) sentiments expressed by Corby's mother and a few partisans in no way represented the vast majority of public opinion in Australia.
However, I see from the comments to date that you sweeping inaccuracies have been largely corrected. Was your article written from any basis of knowledge whatsoever, or cratfed solely to please a certain domestic audience in your domicile?
I would be interested to see how you treat (if at all) the quite regular Australia bashing a number of Indonesian politicians indulge in, which has not interferred with the grwoing ties the two countries have, particularly since the tragedy of the Tsunami?
Thang, I couldn't care less about your outdated and racist views of my country. Your Article clearly is born of the same Asian racism and jealousy towards your wealthy, white neighbour as that which fueled Dr. Mahatia's animosity towards us.
We are wealthy, free, and our opinions are far more diverse and fair-minded than your narrow-minded article.
Even if we weren't fair-minded, thats our business, not yours.
Thang,
Whilst I would disagree with some of your sweeping generalisations, you have I think, made an excellent point in mentioning John Howards championing of Schappele Corbys clause.
This should never have happened, for the Prime Minister of Australia to use his position and thumb his nose at the legally binding decision of another country is outrageous. I haven't seen a case like it in recent history and it demonstrates clearly John Howards sensitivity to the Australian media.
It may have brightened Schapelles day, but that letter was a terrible mistake on the Prime Ministers behalf, and unfortunately for both him and Australians worldwide, now gives comments such as yours a certain legitimacy.
If you have problems with racism in Australia or have experienced it personally, why do you take this out on Schapelle Corby and her supporters. Schapelle has done nothing to you personally and is fighting to defend herself against a 20-year prison sentence in the context of a difficult Indonesian legal system and an Australian Government that wants to forget her. Don't forget that it was the Australian Government that claimed falsely that Australian citizens had attacked a foreign diplomatic post on June 1 and there is speculation that this false assertion was made to specifically discredit Corby supporters (Paul Kelly suggested this on ABC TV on June 5). Why else would the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Leader of the Opposition make and support such a comment on June 1 that the powder sent to the Indonesian Embassy was "not an innocent white powder" when that's exactly what is was! They were either lying or making assumptions before the test results became known.
I suspect, however, your article is not really about racism, but about attacking Corby and her supporters for daring to criticise the Indonesian legal system over the little matter of a 20-year sentence for a crime she didn't commit. Indonesian law professor Indriyanto testified yesterday in Denpasar District Court that the Prosecution had not proven Corby's guilt. But then I suppose he is also a racist!
Well written Thang!
Your article and the facts/opinions contained therein are spot on.
You did however neglect to mention the double standards that Australia has applied in jailing Chika Honda a citizen of Japan. Please look this case up on google.
The Corby case has clearly shown how racist, unreasonable and xenophobic Australians can be.
Please keep up the great work!
Fantastic article! Kudos to you Thang!
A really really stupid column pandering to the most ignorant of all readers. In fact any Australian who has lived more than week in any SE Asian country knows that Australia does not get a seat at the same table in the Racism stakes. For some easy examples tey the Bumiputra system in Malaysia or perhaps being Chinese in Indonesia perhaps lower caste in India or closer to home a hill tribesman in Vietnam.
Yes granted we have some knuckleheads in Australia (give us bak our aid ..really?) What most Australians are angry about is 20 years for something that is offered on the street in Bali every ten minutes and grown as a open view cash crop in other provinces. Not mention you can shoot a waiter down in cold blood and get 7 years, murder a judge and get less than 20.
Of course its always interesting to see the the sad pathetic types crawling out attempting to aplogise for us all..Here's a tip live your own life don't your dare attempt to aplogise on my behalf. I am proud of Australia and having lived and traveled throughout all of SE Asia know that while she ain't perfect there is no country in this region that could stand on a level playing field and trade equal rights insults.
P.S. The comment that described the article as accurate then went on to say we are pretending to be American.. look up racism in the dictionary..it applies to yanks as well...sheesh
honestly after reading your drible in the Australian today, what can I say but seriously who gives a flying f**k about your gook comments. Head on back to Vietnam or whereever your ancestors came from and go enjoy the civil liberties that generations of asians have managed to instill in their own societies. Oh what, there aren't any.
I for one am sick of having our nation denegrated by those to whom we have offered protection from their own kind.
Since you're already in Jakarta, seriously consider not ever coming back.
Thang
Japan is racist. China is racist. Asians are racist against Whites.
Muslims are racist against Jews.
And so on.
Get a life mate!
Mr. 'anonymous' has been busy posting here. What's the matter? A bit shy to show your face. Maybe considering the preceding post I would be ashamed to show who I was as well....but anyway...
Your article was very perceptive and it has some truths.
Having said that I think your article falls down on two accounts. The first is the common mistake to confuse 'xenophobia' with 'racists'.
The second is that my impression of the article is that you are saying: 'scratch an Australian long enough and you'll find a racist' something which I believe is untruth as a generalisation.
After observing Australians and other western nations I came to the conclusion that very few Australians are genuinely racists (some seems to have been on this thread unfortunately). That is that the white race is superior to others. However 'xenophobia' or fear of the foreign is a strong characteristic of the Australian psyche. Fortunately, like most phobias is curable, and Australians have shown that when the 'outsider' becomes the 'insider' they are pretty much welcome. Examples are when the first cracks in the 'Anglo/celtic' society occurred after the Second World war. Initially many Australians were hostile to these Souther/Eastern European migrants, but now they are so much part of the Australian fabric no one notices them at all.
The other example was during the waves of Vietnamese refugees in the 70's and 80's. Despite some unesiness in the early stages, and some exceptions. The vast majority of Vietnamese have settled well in Australia and it's quite normal to have Australians of Vietnamese background doing many things that most of Australians do.
This xenophobia is deeply imbedded in the Australian psyche. A product of being a transposed British culture as far away as you can get from its source. Feeling alone, isolated in a fairly hostile environment. A small bunch of Europeans in a huge continent where at its north there was Asia with its huge populations. So the myth of the 'Yellow Peril' arose. This fear remains. This was of course what Howard cynically, but ably exploited with the Tampa affair and the 'children overboard' lies to win him the 2001 election.
However this brings me to the second point. That once these 'aliens' become part of the Australian community the degree of acceptance is pretty high. At the time of Federation the states that were most pro 'White Australia' were the southern states, those who had the least exposure to Asian cultures. The ones who had least problems where areas such as Cairns and Broome where Asian populations where pretty much part of the landscape.
There are examples everywhere in modern Australia about how once the foreigner becomes part of the community the xenophobia disappears. The most stark example of this is in the town of Young in NSW (this is where the notion of a White Australia Policy started) where Afghan refugees have been retreived from detention centres to work in the meat factory and after initial misgivings they have started to contribute to the town, so much so that there are petitions for them to stay permanently. The other example is where I live where the Lord Mayor John So was the first directly elected Lord Mayor of the Melbourne City Council in 2001, and was re-elected in November 2004 for a second term. The fact is that despite all the talk of multiculturalism there is a very strong sense that migrants should assimilate. Once that's done there is no problem (whether that is right or wrong deserves another post!)
So we have to be careful in butting a whole bunch of people in the same bunch. It's like saying 'All Indonesians are corrupt' it's just not true. There are a wide variety of opinions and beliefs. What Australians would benefit is to stop fearing this idea of 'being swamped' and for Indonesian to realise that most Australians are not racist.
I trust that Mr Thang Nguyen and others deriding Corby supporters as racist ockers will have taken due note of the testimony of Indonesian law professor Indriyanto Seno Adji at the Denpasar District Court on Wednesday (20/7) in which he stated that the Prosecution had not validly proven Ms Corby’s guilt under Indonesian law. But then again I suppose he is just another ocker!
brilliant post!!
i salute you for your courage to speak out!
Yesterday (July 21), a Defendant found guilty of assisting in the terrorist bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta last year, in which 11 people were killed, was sentenced to just 3 and a half years jail. That compares to 20 years for blue-eyed Christian Schapelle Corby! Is this racist? Is it unjust? Does it demonstrate the influence of radical Islam over the Indonesian courts? All three? But if we protest about this we're just a bunch of racist ockers, aren't we Mr Nguyen?
I find it astounding that white people are the only race that are expected to be multicultural, and when we resist we are accused of xenophobia and/or racism. Go to Dubai and try to become a UAE citizen. Go to any Asian nation as a white Australian and try to become one of their citizens.
It's a Goddamn one-way ratchet. We've made the better life for ourselves and when we insist on developing nations making their own lives for themselves and not taking the short-route by coming to us, we are racist.
Why is it that refugees only want to seek asylum in western countries? Would they not be equally as safe in modern Indonesia, Thailand or even Russia? Since when did economic comfort and free social handouts become a characteristic of political safety? Why do asylum seekers pass through every west european nation to get to England specifically, when England is no safer than any of those European nations?
Somebody is taking someone for a long ride here and I am damn sure its not us.
I have the perfect solution.
Whoever does not like or respect Western culture, Western laws and Western freedom, don't come here.
Stay where you are - we don't want you.
You don't like us and we don't like you. That's equality!
Well said Steve,
I think by reading the posts Thang's article has been pretty well exposed as a shallow, bias, poorly researched (read none)pile of dog do do.
By the way did anyone read where the Indonesian AG is thinking about banning a Islam group deemed to be not following the teachings of Islam correctly, not for being violent or anything just having a difference of opinion (in fact they were attacked by a group of thugs). Sorry you were saying Thang....
P.S... Thang if you decide to sail away into exile for publishing such rubbish ..do us a favour and take the author of the "GOOK" post. A short holiday on the Isle of the shallow and ignorant would do you both good
I suspect that thang nguyen has no idea what an "ocker" really is, & if he wishes to find a racist, perhaps a look into the mirror will help.
The article is just an standard "stir 'em up" piece. Sloppy journalism, but it is not intended to be anything else.
I wish you people would stop peddling this untrue 'racism' theme.
Australians became concerned about Schapelle because:
(1) The disparity between the offence and the maximum penalty is absurd. We regard marijuana as a relatively harmless recreational drug. By contrast heroin is considered to be a highly addictive killer through overdoses and AIDs. That is the main reason for the lower level of support for Nguyen and Tran. Not racism.
(2) People can see that she might be innocent but that the poor handling of evidence and some bad luck have left her with no realistic chance to prove it.
Everybody, Corby supporter or not deplores the incidents you have mentioned. But they are few in number and in my view are mostly the result of anger at the verdict rather than underlying racism.
Australia is a successfully multicultural country. Everybody I knew was thrilled with the PMs tsunami donation and looked forward to improving relations between the two countries.
The only obvious racism I can see is columns like yours which categorise Australians as racists on the basis of a small number of incidents and misunderstandings over motivations.
Still, we shouldn't be too tough on the writer. These aren't really his thoughts. Most of his stuff has been ripped off from other columnists of The Australian newspaper. E.g. columns by Tim Lindsey and a host of columnists on 1 June 2005.
Mr Nguyen, you say you are an image consultant for the Indonesian government. Are you part of the Jakarta Lobby? That's the lobby that has a professional interest in whitewashing everything the Indonesian government does. Its victims are countless - thousands of East Timorese, Indonesian victims of human rights abuse and corruption, Australian army officers like Lance Collins and Martin Toohey. And now Schapelle Corby, it seems. The grubby activities of this group are great for their professional and financial interests, corrupt politicians and human rights abusers, but the rest of us - Australians, Indonesians, Timorese and whoever else get in their way - have hell to pay. They should be sacked the lot of them! The list is being prepared.
Last 2 "anonymous":
Anonymous 1#
I have no issue with marijuana dealers being executed. It is still a drug, & I believe we should adopt Indonesian/Singaporean/Malaysian law & penalties (complete with hanging) for marijuana offences. The issue here is Indonesia considers it a capital offence. If being subject to Indonesian law makes is distressing, then don't step into Indonesian jurisdiction. If Corby is guilty, they can shoot her for all I care. However: It is the sloppy forensic procedures, & ESPECIALLY the reasonable doubt about her guilt which has people riles, rather than if any australians consider drugs to be a criminal offence. Only the supremly stupid are stressed about possessing drugs being a capital offence in Indonesia, it is only the doubt over her guilt which is stirring up the public.
Anonymous 2#. Hehe, if we begin to compare to Indonesia for intolerance, racism, backwardness etc, then there is plenty to be found among their parliment, no need to look any further.
Indisputably, no such public bigotry toward neighboring countries could be found pouring forth from the mouths of Ozzi parlimentarians.
I've read many, many similar articles and opinion pieces to this one saying the same thing.
As for replying to that "xenophobic, racist" card so many people pull when you mention the name Schapelle Corby ~ I've "debated" the merits of her case with a fair few people and I don't know how far one needs to go to demonstrate that I am not at all racist or xenophobic .
Should I mention the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six cases in England? If I condemn their sentences, am I racist? Lindy Chamberlain and John Button in Australia? Am I "un~Australian" if I comment on what a travesty of justice their convictions were? Or how about the West Memphis Three in America?
One of the "West Memphis Three" guys is on death row. Am I racist if I say I consider that sentence and indeed the 'guilty' verdict a total disgrace?
I'm not denying some Australians are racist. Some people, where-ever they live, will always be racist. Some Australians turned racist specifically because other racists blew 202 people up in Bali nightclubs, 88 of the victims Australian. A failed attempt to blow up the Australian embassy in Jakarta didn't exactly help matters.
However ...
The majority of people deriding "Australian redneck morons who believe everything the media tells them ... " generally believe everything the media tells them too. That is, if it's what the media tells them about Australian reaction to the Corby case.
For example, it has widely and erroneously been reported all over the world that Australians "in droves" are boycotting Bali and "demanding" Tsunami relief donations back.
Certainly, a few idiots have ranted on the Internet, in newspapers and on talk~back radio about a boycott, but if you try to find the evidence, it simply isn't there. It hasn't happened.
There is absolutely no statistical evidence to back up the claim that Australians are boycotting Bali (sorry, Thang, Bali remains lumbered with us ugly ockers!).
Nor are any Tsunami relief charities reporting any significant drop in donations coming in from Australia. (Thank God. People here aren't really that stupid.)
ALL Australians who are a little concerned about the Corby case are merely colour~blind, and think that "a white or Aussie life is more valuable than a brown or Asian one"? Please.
You need to think a LITTLE more carefully than that, Thang.
As you may or may not be willing to acknowledge, all of us, yourself included, are largely at the mercy of what a commercial media chooses to publicize. We write, think and talk about current affairs mainly when they are visible to us.
The verdict in the Corby trial is only the second verdict "starring" an Australian accused to be broadcast live to the nation in 25 years. The first being the verdict in the Azaria Chamberlain case, the poor little infant girl who vanished without trace at Ayers Rock/Uluru way back in 1980.
Television is arguably the most powerful medium in the world and you cannot attribute its power or the reaction of those who watched the verdict purely to "Aussies being xenophobic".
Of course, this is unfair on those as unfortunate or as unlucky as Corby but who do not get the same exposure ~ I've long argued along similar lines myself. Particularly with regard to the media coverage on a still unsolved serial killing case in Perth, Western Australia.
To this day, few people here are aware that several young women besides Sarah Spiers, Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon disappeared off the streets of Perth since 1996, because the media only paid attention to Miss Spiers, Miss Rimmer and Miss Glennon ~ all of whom were from the upper~middle classes.
So in my view, if anyone is to be deemed "racist" (or "classist"? elitist?) for not turning the cases of Nyuyen Tuong Van and Tran Van Thanh into causé celebre's, it's not "Australians". It's a small contingent of people running the media.
You can't blame the average man on the street for never having heard of these tragic cases (guilty or not guilty, I do not believe in the death penalty under any circumstances).
We aren't all that bad, for petes~sake.
As for Howard's grand gesture of replying to Schapelle Corby's letter ... I agree with her legal team. It's largely lip~service. The Government hasn't really done much to help her.
And before you say, "If Corby was a man the Government would never have deigned to send that letter ... " in the 1980s, Prime Minister Bob Hawke famously condemned the Malaysian legal system as "barbaric", after Australians Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers were executed for drug smuggling.
Which reminds me ~
That hackneyed observation about her gender being why she gets attention is something I hear so often I feel like starting a blog called "Schapelle Corby: It's Only Coz She's Pretty".
Anybody who believes she is Getting Special Treatment Only Because She's Pretty should google "Christopher Packer" or "Christopher Currell" (or Currall, not certain of the spelling there).
Currall and Packer were two white Australian men who earlier this year became members of that putative army of "middle aged, uninteresting men" facing life or the death penalty in Indonesia, who noone apparently cared about because they weren't young'n'pretty Like Corby.
Packer and Currall were found guilty. Don't forget: they were facing sentences every bit as harsh as Corby.
Their sentences?
Currall served 6 months, Packer got 3 months.
I'm sure Miss Corby in her jail in Bali is complacently gazing up at that letter from John Howard pinned to the wall, oh~so~grateful for her Special Treatment compared to those two men.
Hey Thang,
Here's your chance to prove you are not a fraud:
"MUI TO FORMULATE EDICTS AGAINST ‘LIBERAL THOUGHTS’
The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) will formulate several edicts to put an end to what it terms "deviant secular and liberal Islamic thoughts" during its four-day national congress that opened here on Tuesday (26 July). According to the council's edict committee, the edicts will represent the MUI's determination to win the "war of ideas against liberal Islam" (Jakarta Post today).
If fact if you want to see real xenophobic, racist tomes read the whole article. Well Thang I challenge you comment here or in the Jakarta Post, although we both know you won't because unlike Australia having a opinion like that is both dangerous and deadly, but until you do you stand exposed for what you are.
I noticed that Chinese Ambassador Madame Fu has borrowed heavily from the anti-Corbyists' argument that we are racist if we criticize the actions of Asian governments. She said that Chen Yonglin's "lies" about Chinese agents spying on pro-democracy dissidents in Australia was producing "prejudice" that she was finding hard to contain. So you're in good company, Mr Thang. Next we'll hear that we're racist for condemining the government of North Korea. And I suggest you follow the facts of the Corby case more closely rather than assuming she is guilty.
Enjoying your luxury life living at Taman Rasuna Apartments or Puri Casablanca on US$3,000/month tax free (am I under-estimating here, you tell us, Mr Thang?) while your fellow Australian (if you even consider yourself one) will languish for the next 20 years in a Bali prison...... If you had any integrity or compassion, you'd be using your influence in Jakarta to defend her, not support her conviction and 20-year sentence, but that wouldn't pay as well, would it? Gutless wonder!
Dear Thang.
The following comments come from an email I have sent to the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra and the Australian Foreign Minister.
Its a long one today but there are four important points to consider:
1. The Asian view of Indonesia.
2. Specific Vietnamese view of Indonesia.
3. A world view of Australian attitudes to Indonesia.
4. Innocent Australians are again victim to Islamic terror.
NUMBER 1
Dinna Tayao - (Close friend of mine - Philippine IT professional)
Q: Dinna what is the Asian view of Indonesia?
Peter
A: Hmmmm. What a profound question. I know that Aus is wary of the world's
largest Muslim country (125M people and counting), that it holds a vast
reserve of oil and natural resources yet untapped, that the Philippines
Mindanao Muslim region views Indonesia as an ally and a hotbed of
extremists, and that some of the bombings that happened in the Philippines
jumped off Indonesia. Malaysia and Indonesia are allies in the war against
Iraq, and Singapore can't be bothered by it all. China and Hong Kong seem
indifferent to the ongoing political turbulence, with these countries being
communists.
_______________________________________________________________
NUMBER 2
From a petition (Believe me the Vietnamese (and so should you)know just as much as Indonesia
and Australia about drugs.)
Mai Pham - I'm a Vietnamese. I'm so sorry to hear about that. It looks like
the film named Bangkok Hilton. We should do something to help her, it's
really unfair. I will inform all of my friends about this.
Huynh Truong - I hold a deep believe that she is innocent.
Map Huy - Freedom for Schapelle now.
Thao Nguyen
Dung - free Schapelle
Hai Van - free Schapelle!
Thy free Schapelle
Yen Pham - Freedom for Schapelle now.
Huynh Trong Anh - Indonesia has to release Corby immediately.
Anh Thu - I'm sure that she is innocent. God bless Schapelle
Nhat Nguyen - I do believe Indonesian legal system, believed in the truth,
One day soon, Ms Corby will be free. Hope so.
Batoan Nguyen looking at her face I believe that Schapelle is just an
innocent of a diabolic and dirty trick. May God save her life and I propose
Indonesia Government should carefully investigate the case she committed the
sin especially her family history and her good record to have an exact
conclusion. She is too young and her eyes tell us that. Please!
David Nguyen I sympathy with Corby, be stronger, we are beside you.
Le Trang Dzung They can't keep her in jail. She is innocent!!!!!!!!!!!!
____________________________________________________________
NUMBER 3
Understanding Australian Anger with Indonesia
by Jack Langer
Posted Jul 29, 2005
The international press is genuinely mystified by the Australians' anger.
But in its rush to indict Australians as hysterical xenophobes, the
international media is ignoring some significant details that help explain
Australian anger.
Over 200 people, nearly half of whom were Australians, were killed in the
2002 bombing attack on the Indonesian island of Bali by the Islamic
terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah. Indonesia sentenced over 30 suspects in the
bombing, but these convictions were thrown into uncertainty when one suspect
's conviction was overturned on a technicality.
Moreover, the head of Jemaah Islamiah, Abu Bakar Bashir, was sentenced to 30
months in jail for approving the Bali bombing. That is, Indonesian courts
issued a 30-month sentence to the native head of a terror group who
authorized a bombing that killed over 200 people, and 20 years to an
Australian accused of smuggling marijuana. The pattern continued earlier
this month, when an Indonesian court sentenced a native Islamic preacher to
just three and a half years in jail for being an accessory to last year's
bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, which resulted in nine deaths.
The international press, however, finds greater explanatory value in Corby's
bra than it does in the lenient terror bombing sentences.
When Islamic terrorists commit atrocities in which scores of civilians are
massacred, and these attacks are openly supported throughout the world by
Islamic preachers, cultural leaders, and in the Arab media, the
international press inevitably invokes its rote explanation that the
perpetrators are a tiny minority of misguided extremists whose beliefs are
rejected by the vast majority of Muslims. But when a couple of Australian
hotheads send some threats in the mail that actually hurt no one, we're told
that these actions reflect an inveterate racism that pervades an entire
country of 20 million people.
Thus we see the biased, permanent presumption of Western guilt underlying
the multiculturalist worldview of the mainstream press.
Where, one might ask, are the anguished editorials calling on Indonesians to
look at their own policies and ask themselves "Why do they hate us?" Perhaps
Australians are looking at the international press and asking themselves
this very question.
Mr. Langer is a PhD candidate in Russian history at Duke University. He can
be reached at jlan@duke.edu.
_____________________________________________________________________
NUMBER 4
Remembering a 'lifetime of love'
By Katherine Kazoos
July 30, 2005
What is more important? The length of a life, or the warmth with which a
life is remembered?
At a funeral service in North Melbourne yesterday, the family and friends of
Sam Ly gave heartfelt thanks for his 28 years. Mr Ly, an information
technology worker, was travelling on a bus in London's Tavistock Square when
a bomb exploded on July 7. He is the only Australian to have died as a
result of the London bombings.
At yesterday's service celebrant Clive Romney said Mr Ly had escaped with
his family from Vietnam when he was two years old, and had arrived in
Australia by boat "in trying conditions". His mother died when he was four
and he was brought up by his father and sister.
The many friends who remembered Mr Ly during the service did not mention the
manner of his death. But all were happy to recall the joy he gave them in
life.
Joshua Hutchinson, who met Mr Ly in 2003 said Mr Ly's "face would light up
when he talked", making other people smile so that he "always seemed to be
surrounded by happy people".
School friend Sonny Heaps remembered Mr Ly as a chess player who read a lot
and who was the "Donald Trump of the Monopoly board". "We would talk about
deep and meaningful things . . . he (worried) that he would never find
anyone". It was a worry that was put to rest when he was reunited with Mandy
Ha, whom he had first known in primary school.
Mr Ly's love for Ms Ha, his partner of nine years, was mentioned by many
yesterday. She was in London with Mr Ly when the bomb exploded. She brought
his body home last weekend.
The softly spoken Ms Ha said that before his death Mr Ly had reminded her of
an incident in which she had helped him overcome his fears by leading him
through a haunted house made of chairs and sheets when they were both in
grade 1. "I gave him a little bit of guidance," she said, "and in return he
gave me a whole lifetime of love."
Innocent Victims of Islamic terror – Sonny & Mandy berth proud Vietnamese Australians.
Please write about what you understand.
Thank you.
Peter
I have heard and read so much of both sides of the guilty/not guilty argument & I honestly feel it's time everyone stopped trying to prove who's right, who's wrong, who's racist & who's not & who's to blame in this whole sorry saga because after all what is it going to achieve ??
Indigo Blue, I appreciate what you say but if we say and do nothing, an innocent woman will spend the next 20 years in a foreign prison. If we say something, there is still hope however remote that justice will come. Out of the bad news yesterday suddenly 2 senior barristers appeared on national TV this morning saying what they think about the verdict and will help Schapelle to secure an appeal to the Indonesian Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi).
Most of the Australian journalists apparently couldn't get their working visas approved yesterday(particularly representatives from Channel's 7 and 9: gee I wonder why!). Hence we didn't see the usual media throngs outside the court and the story didn't get nearly as much attention as all the other "Schapelle" stories have in the past. This is (for once) a great shame, as the disaster yesterday really could be the end of the legal road for her and not half as many people are aware of it.
Thang, you have a right to your opinion, but you've no idea how
glib and simplistic your argument really sounds (moreover, tossers on CNN have said the same about Australians in less than half as many words).
I am an Australian university student and I can assure you, Australians in droves, experiencing "the cultural cringe", are not only unsympathetic to Schapelle Corby, they are very eager to distance themselves from her cause. Believe me. Even feminists here aren't interested in her, and David Hicks is considered to be a far more chic and fashionable cause celebré. (As a few people have cleverly observed, there is a remarkable and rather bizarre alliance in the thinking of both the far~Left and the far~Right; where poor Corby is concerned, both are falling over themselves to condemn/dismiss her.)
This is thanks in part to a select few morons (who have been quoted everywhere) on talk~back radio, plus that utterly idiotic and disgraceful white powder "attack" on the Indonesian embassy.
But it's also thanks to people like you reacting in the way you have here, citing the behaviour of a select few to condemn an entire country.
As peter g wrote, when all is said and done, the reaction of Australians to Corby's conviction still falls well short of bombing nightclubs and foreign embassies, ensuring that hundreds of innocent people (including many who were Indonesian) died horrific and agonizing deaths.
And no, thank God, I didn't then and I still don't judge Indonesia or its people by the behaviour of a few extremists. Nor am I looking for a pat on the back for NOT saying
"well, Indonesians think this ... ",
"Indonesians think that ... ",
"Indonesians DO this ... " just because of the way a handful have behaved.
It would be completely irrational, unintelligent and shallow to think or assume or argue that an entire country is innately "this or that" because a few of its citizens behave in a certain way.
The only loser in all this is Schapelle Corby herself. You will think me sentimental, but I feel for her and remain fairly certain she is innocent.
If you want to write another turgid and two~dimensional op~ed piece on what you dislike about
"Australians", at least leave Corby's name out of it ~ or wait until the outcome of her High Court appeal.
She has pointedly gone out of her way to distance herself from racists who (unsuccessfully) tried to turn her into their "White Aussie" Poster Girl, and has reiterated time and again her love of Bali and of Indonesia. She is not guilty of the racism and xenophobia you speak of. Whatever else you or others may think she's guilty of.
I think the case of Schapelle Corby needs to be left up to the correct authorities to deal with it via the correct channels instead of via a sensationalistic & reckless media.
I've just now read a letter which Chris Ellison sent to Schapelle's lawyer Hotman last week & I can assure you the Australian government is doing all that's possible but Hotman appears to want to fight it all out in the media. There are so many comments he's made, especially over the last few days, which are a long way from the truth...that is not what is needed.
I am an Australian-trained lawyer who was a consultant to Jakarta law firm Frans Winarta & Partners last year. When we were defending an imprisoned Australian Darin Seagrove, we got the same pathetic reaction from the Australian authorities. They got into a big argument with our Ibndonesian lawyers. The Embassy took the side of the Prosecution over the rights of an innocent Australian being illegally detained. I am 100% sure that Hotman Paris is correct. The government will only do something if you go to the media and make it politically disadvantageous for them not to act. This attitude was very different from the German and French Embassies who really defended their citizens in Jakarta and for whom we were also acting. Why is it only now - in the week prior to the second day of her re-opened hearing when it is too late - that the Federal Government has got a statement from 'Paul' supporting Corby's version of what happened? Do those taking Ellison's side - and that appears to the the majority of Australians based on opinion polls - really believe that two Indonesian lawyers have greater resources than the entire Commonwealth of Australia for finding out about a major drugs crime taking place at Federally-controlled Australian airports? (And a major crime was committed on Australian soil regardless of whether you believe the Defence or Prosecution)
Dear Thang
This is what it is about......
Abu Bakar appeal fails but still out in 2007
August 7, 2005
The Sun-Herald
Indonesia's Supreme Court has rejected a final appeal by militant Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir to overturn a 30-month sentence for his role in instigating the Bali nightclub bombings that killed 88 Australians.
Abu Bakar's lawyer Muhammad Assegaf said he had received verbal communication of the court's decision which was reportedly made on Wednesday but not made public.
In March a Jakarta court sentenced Abu Bakar for his involvement in a criminal conspiracy that led to the October 2002 Bali bombings, in which 202 people were killed, but cleared him of more serious charges of planning terrorist attacks.
In May the Jakarta High Court upheld the ruling against Abu Bakar, the spiritual leader of the Jemaah Islamiah extremist group blamed for the Bali attacks and last September's suicide bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta that killed 11 people.
Australia and the US have criticised Abu Bakar's sentence as too lenient.
The father of an Australian man who died in the bombings attacked the court's decision to uphold the sentence as disgraceful. Brian Deegan, whose 21-year-old son Josh died in the blasts, said he felt let down by the sentence.
It did not make sense that Schapelle Corby got 20 years on her marijuana smuggling conviction while Abu Bakar would only spend 30 months in jail, he said.
Abu Bakar was arrested a week after the Bali bombings and was first put on trial the following year, but the terrorism charges were thrown out.
But he was found guilty of immigration offences and jailed.
Police rearrested him in April last year as he left prison after serving the immigration sentence, citing new evidence of terrorist links and of his leadership of Jemaah Islamiah.
He will now be freed in September 2007.
Mr Assegaf said the 66-year-old cleric "flatly rejected" the Supreme Court ruling and deemed it an "act of injustice".
Abu Bakar's legal team has argued the guilty verdict was based solely on an uncorroborated police statement attributed to convicted Bali bomber Mubarok, also known as Utomo Pamungkas.
Mubarok appeared as a witness at one of Abu Bakar's trials but refused to answer questions.
Look I know life is not that simple but it does not have to be that stupid either.
Thanks
Peter
Thang:
There is an Australian citizen on death row in Singapore. His name is Nguyen Tuong Van.
If you do a web search on this young man, you will discover that the Aussie media reported that thousands of ordinary Australians had contacted a human rights group in Australia, to offer any help in overturning Nguyen's death sentence.
How can you possibly call that racist?
Thang D. Nguyen you are obviously a racist and have exposed yourself as one by this slanderous dribble that lacks any actual fact at all.
Australia is not belong to western people at the first place.
Can Singapore Priminister answer the question : how come the Germany woman was released but Nguen Truong Van is not. She was arrested with more than 600 g drugs?
Hi to all Australians. I am a Singaporean living in Singapore. I support the hanging of All drug smugglers, pushers and sellers of any nationality. Why?
The reason is, these ppl sell their drugs and make millions, ignoring the suffering of thousands of citizens of any country, be it Asians,Australian, Europeans, Americans etc.
How would you react if you happen to find out that your love ones, wife, husband, son, daughter, and others become incapacited after taking heroin from these ppl?
Worse, to see your loved ones waste their lives slowly and dreadfully by the drug scourge and die or destroy your family's lives? Do you like that to happen to your loved ones. Perhaps you do not feel it now as it has not happened to any of your loved ones.
Ask those who have gone through the emotional, physical and financial suffering when one of their relative/s got caught in the web of herion addition and abuse.
Anyway, if you still believe that Nguyen should not be hanged due to your beliefs that no one should decide on another's fate, I have this to say.
Perhaps Singapore should make an exception. Release Nguyen, strap back those confiscated drugs onto him and send him on his way back to Australia. Australians should than let him deliver those drugs to the traffickers so that these drugs can poison more Australians and destroy their lives and family, emotionally, physically and financially.
After this episode is over, Singapore should than do the following for any Drug Mules that are caught and identified to be enroute to Australia to sell those drugs there :
1. Cheerfully release the Drug Mule and ensure he board the flight to Australia safely.
2. Do not inform the Australian Authority of the impending arrival of the Drug Mule to Australia so he will not be caught with the Drugs, and ultimately he will be able to send those drugs to the traffickers to poison more Australians.
Gday Mates!!
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