the boy in bali on pot charges

[steve shearer]

I think its absolutely f-cked jailing a kid for having some happy herb on his possession but the Indonesians, like me, have split a mental atom and are acting completely irrational.

wow.

[ajohnsen]

Sushi rolls, Macdonalds, hot stone massages, moccachino’s, Caesar salad pizza’s and dog whisperers ect ect are all contributing to the demise of a once innocent and beautiful island.

The Balinese are going mad.....and i don't blame em.

You know, KK, it's a bit like sitting in the line-up and thinking, 'if it weren't for all of these phuqing surfers, I'd be having a good time.'

Even though it's highly unlikely that the first surfer in Indo asked for a Big Mac, he was the thin edge of the wedge. The Balinese, like anyone else, sensed an opportunity and it has snowballed from there. That's how things evolve. There is no use in complaining about how the soul has been sucked out of the place. We all, the Balinese included, contributed to the evolution (or devolution) of the place into a tourist mecca.

I'm sure that Bondi was a beautiful place once, but then Capt. Jim Cook landed at Botany Bay and there went the neighbourhood.

[chrisb]

Time to add my bit:-

(1) In Bali you can avoid most Aussie bogans by staying away from Kuta/Legian.
(2) There's an outcry about a 14 year old Aussie dopehead being jailed yet Australia detains younger foreigners (alleged refugees) in detention centres and few complain.
(3) If anyone still thinks that Schapelle Corby is innocent I recommend that you read "Sins Of The Father". The compelling evidence in this well-researched book will change your opinion.
(4) On last week's Q&A Ray Martin was quoted as saying that "dopehead's" $300k deal is not happening.
(5) Alcohol causes more measurable damage than dope but that doesn't mean that dope should be legalised. How about further restricting the use of both, especially for developing teenaged brains ?

Now it's time to run for cover......

[Slowman]

Were those highly irresponsible adults his parents?

Whichever media organisation was so morally bankrupt (take your pick) to make the initial approach. Then try the media organisations that broke the story. Then his parents. And any other idiot who thought it a good idea to give the story a public airing. And, just for good measure, any fcuktard who thinks, in some swaggering macho way, that if the kid can't do the time, he shouldn't do the crime.

Those irresponsible adults.

Sure the media don't give a rats they're just in it to make a buck, cheque book journalism has robbed the profession of any ethics. However, I disagree with your order of precedence, I would put his parents at the top of the list of those irresponsible adults. They are the first ones responsible, he is their responsibility, no one else's.

[petulance]

Time to add my bit:-

(1) In Bali you can avoid most Aussie bogans by staying away from Kuta/Legian.

Getting on my high horse here ...

I flew Virgin Blue to Bali and stayed on the Bukit in Pecatu. The only time I saw bogans (from Melbourne) was at the Jetstar checkin counter at the airport.

Though there was also the Sunday night music session at Singlefin Bar in Uluwatu with a lot of shirtless Aussies in boardshorts on the "dance floor". But it was a relatively well mannered crowd as the bar actually ran out of Bintang towards the end and there was still a civilised atmosphere.

[Slowman]

Time to add my bit:-

...
(5) Alcohol causes more measurable damage than dope but that doesn't mean that dope should be legalised. How about further restricting the use of both, especially for developing teenaged brains ?

Now it's time to run for cover......

I'd legalise pot but I think we should also raise the drinking/smoking age to 23. I think under 30s should be refused admittance to establishments after mid-night. At the least the cops could put extra manpower on at that time to handle the shenanigans and then have a quieter shift for the rest of the night.

I actually think there is a very good argument for legalising all drugs and bringing them under control but that's another thread and Indonesia is certainly not a place you could have this kind of debate on such reforms.

[Little]

On odd occasions if you drive drunk, you get caught and lose your licence. Fair cop. Sometimes, you crash and kill someone. Or yourself. But most times you seem to get home safely. You're still an idiot if you drink and drive, considering all the possibilities.
Make an example of this imbecile for all the other 14 year old addicts (?) in the world with 10 strokes of the ratan and 5 years in gaol with his parents. He's an idiot and so are they.

[kreepykrawly]

Sushi rolls, Macdonalds, hot stone massages, moccachino’s, Caesar salad pizza’s and dog whisperers ect ect are all contributing to the demise of a once innocent and beautiful island.

The Balinese are going mad.....and i don't blame em.

You know, KK, it's a bit like sitting in the line-up and thinking, 'if it weren't for all of these phuqing surfers, I'd be having a good time.'

Even though it's highly unlikely that the first surfer in Indo asked for a Big Mac, he was the thin edge of the wedge. The Balinese, like anyone else, sensed an opportunity and it has snowballed from there. That's how things evolve. There is no use in complaining about how the soul has been sucked out of the place. We all, the Balinese included, contributed to the evolution (or devolution) of the place into a tourist mecca.

I'm sure that Bondi was a beautiful place once, but then Capt. Jim Cook landed at Botany Bay and there went the neighbourhood.

That’s boolsh-t.

I have never contributed to the evolution of anything!!!

In indo I have always lived like a savage and ate like one too.

Not once did I say “Hey George and Mildred wouldn’t it be dandy to cut down the forest and build a pizza hut on that headland over there” or “wouldn’t it be nice to burn down that village and replace it with air conditioned condominiums complete with bar fridges and inbuilt cappuccino machines’

However....
Even if developers are converting this once beautiful island into Zombieland complete with all our home comforts.... I still believe it is wrong to jail a kid for f-ck all......especially if I know that if something had to drastically happen to Bali (like earthquakes or volcanic mayhem) Australia would be the first to help.

[otway1949]

That’s boolsh-t.

I have never contributed to the evolution of anything!!!

In indo I have always lived like a savage and ate like one too.

Not once did I say “Hey George and Mildred wouldn’t it be dandy to cut down the forest and build a pizza hut on that headland over there” or “wouldn’t it be nice to burn down that village and replace it with air conditioned condominiums complete with bar fridges and inbuilt cappuccino machines’

Talk to the former Suharto Government and the Javanese cronies, Tommy Suharto fncuked up a lot of good areas in Indonesialocals were given a choice by the armies to sell at chickenfeed prices ancestral land or have it compulsorally acquired , the family would be offered a menial job for life or relocation to a peice of swamp or even just a disappearance.

Australia telling Indo how to run its laws, is as obnoxious as Muslims trying to introduce Sharia law to Australia or Jews trying to promote Talmudic law, imagine the chaos if those two systems met in court
IMO too many Australians and other westerners go to Indonesia and in particularly Bali without any awareness or respect.
What's the real story behind the boy and his family, the media story isn't.
But he and his family have discovered one difference between Indo and Australia, Australia mitigates the consequence of actions so people can get away with stupidity often repeatedly, Indonesia does not and the louder someone bleats about it being unfair and causes the government to lose face the harder they bite.

[ric_vidal]

I have never contributed to the evolution of anything!!!

Jeebus Krusty, and you think you needed to tell us?

[brendo]

Time to add my bit:-

(1) In Bali you can avoid most Aussie bogans by staying away from Kuta/Legian.
(2) There's an outcry about a 14 year old Aussie dopehead being jailed yet Australia detains younger foreigners (alleged refugees) in detention centres and few complain.
(3) If anyone still thinks that Schapelle Corby is innocent I recommend that you read "Sins Of The Father". The compelling evidence in this well-researched book will change your opinion.
(4) On last week's Q&A Ray Martin was quoted as saying that "dopehead's" $300k deal is not happening.
(5) Alcohol causes more measurable damage than dope but that doesn't mean that dope should be legalised. How about further restricting the use of both, especially for developing teenaged brains ?

Now it's time to run for cover......

if youre in bali, perhaps you can ask schapelle herself

http://schapellecorbytours.com/

[kreepykrawly]

Otway1949
Indonesia has been screwed over by the Portuguese, the Dutch, the Japanese, then later by the Dutch again and then finally by a corrupt Suharto government who annihilated millions of Indonesian communists and Chinese-Indonesians while also taking from their own people

The Indonesians are getting jack of being screwed over and they want the world to perceive them as having a tight grip on their own future. It’s a pity that people such as this young kid have been swept up in this ‘Indonesia is Tough’ PR campaign.

P.S Ric
The process of evolution does not necessarily mean we end up in a better place. We evolve to finally dissolve. This planet would be far better off if we all had remained apes.
In fact as part of my new revolutionary evolutionary process for this month … I will only eat bananas, climb trees and make weird primate noises.

I feel sorry for Mrs KK she also doesn’t know what she is in for.

[Beanpole]

You forget the westerners who from the thirties styled Bali as a paradise. The Balos cruise through it with amazing grace. No wonder your mother-in-law is over there

The Dutch tended to give Bali a relatively wide birth as they were fierce and only dealt with them for pigs and slaves since they had a bit of a monopoly on both. Slaves usually came from Lombok.

[oldman]

Jeez, we can be a bunch of sanctimonious pricks.

Oh yeah, in spades.

It never ceases to amaze me how often the government thinks it can tell Indonesia what to do.

What and when Beanpole? Have you been reading News Limited papers again. I think you will find the only time we have really intervened was in East Timor, which was way overdue. Pity we stood up for East Timor so that we could then go and bend her over something fierce over the Greater Sunrise development. Now that was shameful.

But whatever you read in the papers, don't think for a second that they have crossed any lines at the diplomatic level. They're a bit smarter than the average Telegraph reader.

And before you all go and claim credit for ruining Bali, I think you may have to get in line behind the Dutch, the Portuguese, and almost certainly the people who have done more to ruin Bali than any other, the Javanese.

But hey, don't let me get in the way of a superficial western self flagellation session.

Carry on.

Apropos nothing, nothing at all really, I wrote to the Immigration Minister about the fact that we are holding Indo adolescents on trumped up charges of people smuggling. Charges that are despicable, and laws that are so inflexible, principally drawn up to satisfy the bogan redneck element of Oz who seem to be worried that we are being overrun by boat people.

I thought that was more significant than a Central Coast child getting 3 months.

[kreepykrawly]

The Dutch tended to give Bali a relatively wide birth as they were fierce and only dealt with them for pigs and slaves since they had a bit of a monopoly on both. Slaves usually came from Lombok.

Are you serious !!!!

You think the Dutch gave Bali a wide birth. bwahahahaha

About 25 years before the first surfers got barreled out Uluwatu …Bali was completely controlled by the Dutch.

Quick history lesson

Gun of man with funny accent, allways beats spear/arrow/sword ect ect of local fierce warrior..... in the end.

[ric_vidal]

You think the Dutch gave Bali a wide birth. bwahahahaha

Just got back on Monday, plenty of wide ones there spending their guilders.

[otway1949]

It is not so much trials over religious issues in religious courts, even the various Christian groups and some of the more extreme Christian sects have courts about their issues.
No it is about court issues between religions and/or secular issues that would produce concern.
There was a case sometime ago where an Aboriginal business group dismissed a Jewish employee that saw some sparks fly over discrimination!
But interestingly enough all Christian ,Jewish and Muslim have no issue over race, just belief!
Well at least at the Institutional level like everywhere else it's the personal prejudices and the radical sects that cause the problems.

[chrisb]

if youre in bali, perhaps you can ask schapelle herself

http://schapellecorbytours.com/

Unbelievable. Please tell me that this is not true.

She may be a convicted drug smuggler who deserves to be locked-up but this tour is akin to visiting wild animals at the zoo.