<$BlogRSDURL$>
Saturday, June 04, 2005
  A bitch

No, not more about the lass stuck in the Bali jail. The issue now is the patronising parochialism of our 'western' neighbours who don't create a fuss about an Australian facing a firing squad albeit for attempting to traffic heroin from Vietnam into Australia.

Why hasn't there been a bigger fuss? Because Nguyen Van Chinh is of Vietnamese origin or because the case involves heroin?

Quite rightly, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has appealed to stay the execution of Chinh as he does with all Australians sentenced to death overseas, including Nguyen Tuong Van of Melbourne on death row in Singapore.

Another concern raised by the Schapelle kerfuffle is the issue of marijuana being rated as a harmful substance. The following is taken verbatim from the latest issue of the email subscriber newsletter Travel Impact Newswire which has been forwarded to Jakartass by Son One who works in the travel business back in Blighty. Incidentally, he tells me that in the UK "it's a hidden story".

Australians tend to forget about their own system and its injustices, not just in the past regarding how the rightful owners of the land were treated by the forced or voluntary migrants who took over under colonization, but recently regarding would-be immigrants and refugees, who spend years in camps, even their whole lives as with the little Malaysian girl.

Although I'm sure that an Indonesian drug trafficker to Australia would get due process of law, he or she would get the sentence meted out in such cases even if he or she proclaims innocence. I'm sure also that if an Australian man of Vietnamese origin gets caught smuggling drugs to Indonesia or Thailand, not many people will start campaigns on his behalf, even if he claims innocence.

As for the Indonesian law system, there is a reasonable doubt that this girl is innocent, as it seems pretty dumb to import expensive marijuana from Australia to Indonesia, and there seems to be security problems in Australian airports cargo handling areas. It would have been compassionate for the judges to take this into account.

Even if the poor girl was trying to smuggle drugs, she is probably no hardened criminal, maybe just guilty of stupidity, and a more lenient sentence would have served both the cause of justice, and of Indonesia's image.

On the other, and on a more global arena, who but the western power and culture imposed on the world their view that cannabis was a dangerous drug to be banned? For most of human history and in many cultures, cannabis has been a widely used plant, both as a raw material with many uses, as medication, in religious rituals and for recreation of the mind.

When synthetic products competing with what could be made with cannabis appeared (such as nylon ropes, for example), the anti-cannabis campaign got more rabid. In the end, many countries that could have done good business by growing the plant, had to forget about it, while chemical corporations grew rich.

How many people die every year from alcohol or tobacco as compared to those dying from cannabis use? Well, practically nobody dies from cannabis use. Then again, who makes the most money from alcohol and tobacco?

So after vilifying cannabis and imposing the view that its production, consumption and trafficking should be punished, isn't it ironic that westerners are now unhappy when one of their own gets punished for a cannabis related offense?

Ah, the evil weed. Tobacco.

Whilst getting slightly squiffy last night with a few draught Bintangs, I was given 2 complementary packs of cappuccino flavoured (eh?) kreteks (clove cigarettes).

Assuming you don't already know the answer to the question "who makes the most money from alcohol and tobacco", consider that last week it was announced that the government was planning to raise retail prices of cigarettes in July, to help plug the state budget deficit, as well as to discourage people from smoking.

Of course the cigarette producers are fuming. (Sorry, not my pun.) But not Philip Morris which now owns 97% of Sampoerna (which) was founded in 1913 and today is Indonesia's third largest tobacco company with a 19.4% cigarette market share in 2004. Philip Morris obviously benefits financially from its global reach. (Australian readers might like to know, or maybe not, that Philip Morris owns Vegemite, that famous Aussie gunk.)

The problem for Jakartass and zillions of other addicts here is that our addiction is cheap. If only we were social pariahs and our addiction was expensive, as in the UK. A carton of ten packs costs less than one pack in the UK, about 30p per pack.

If marijuana were legal and similarly cheap here, Corby would not have caused international ructions and Jakartass would not have a wracking cough.

 

postID=111786328065220061

12:30 pm
|
Alien Thoughts from Home

Home Thoughts from Abroad

Interactive World Time

Indonesian Dictionary

Indonesian Acronyms

Indonesian Slang

Learn Indonesian

Currency Converter

Email Me

The WeatherPixie

5 Day Forecast

Get Firefox!




Disasters
  • West Sumatra Earthquake Aid Agencies
  • Sidoarjo Mud Volcano
  • Reports on Crashes and Sinkings

  • Living in Indonesia
  • Tempo
  • Bugils News
  • Jakarta Post
  • Jakarta Globe
  • Down To Earth
  • Loads of Advice
  • Inside Indonesia
  • Green Indonesia
  • Hobson's Choice
  • Gunung Bagging - New - clamber volcanoes
  • Indonesian Music
  • Indahnesia Online
  • Maps of Indonesia
  • Indonesia For Kids - blog
  • Green Group Links
  • Faces of Indonesia - blog
  • Photos of Indonesia
  • Indonesian Publications
  • International Crisis Group
  • Indonesian Engaged Travel - blog
  • Outside The Indonesian Box - blog
  • Indonesian Corruption Watch
  • News and Events Aggregators
  • Indonesia's Vegetarian Restaurants

  • Living in Jakarta
  • Culture Shock - Jakarta - 'my' book
  • Bataviase - loads of info in Indonesian
  • Rujak.org - for a sustainable Jakarta
  • Jakarta Kid - stories of street kids
  • Jakarta Events - as it says in the title
  • Map of Jakarta
  • Jakarta Nite Out
  • Jakarta Nite Out - for Francophiles
  • Jakarta 100 Bars - as it says in the title
  • Jakarta Java Kini - upmarket magazine
  • Jakarta Urban Blog- as it says in the title
  • Jakarta Green Map
  • Jakarta Daily Photo - as it says in the title
  • Jakarta? Been there!
  • Protecting Jakarta Bay
  • Nightlife - for single guys - check the forums
  • Jakarta Restaurant Reviews - as it says in the title

  • Living in Bali
  • Hector - at Bali Times
  • Bali Spirit
  • Bali Expat Forum
  • Nusa Lembongan News
  • I've Been To Bali Too Blog - defunct but still good stuff

  • Education Matters
  • Education 21
  • Performing Monkeys
  • Yayasan Goodwill International

  • Pre-Independence History
  • 1941-1942
  • A Family Tale

  • JAKARTASS ADS
  • Del Boy - my multi-talented co-author
  • Hotel Rimbo - a mate
  • Ethos Travel - Son No.1
  • Indo Fair Traders
  • Organic Vanilla
  • Merdeka Coffee
  • Pekerti Nusantara

  • Indonesian Blogs in English
  • Top Blogs
  • Merdeka - aggregator
  • Elyani - good stuff
  • Therry - good stuff
  • Om'Bak - group thoughts
  • Yosef Ardi - business gossip
  • Treespotter - his serious blog
  • Milk Tea Girl - poems and stuff
  • Bitching Babe - another slice
  • Café Salemba - ekonomi +
  • Enda Nasution - The Guv'nor
  • Aroeng Binang - a neighbour
  • Harry Nizam H. - legal practitioner
  • Ethereal Shards - youthful ponderings
  • Muli's Commune - defunct but good links
  • Isman H. Suryaman - not a 'Fool'
  • Rasyad A. Parinduri - ekonomi
  • Tasa Nugraza Barley - returned from the USA
  • Indonesia Anonymus - infrequent but always good

  • Indonesian Expats
  • Naz - a "12.5% Indonesian" in Norway
  • Bleu - in Malaysia
  • Anita - in Scotland
  • Maya - in Antibes
  • The Writer - in Denmark
  • Spew-It-All - in Australia
  • Jennie Bev - in SF
  • Rima Fauzi - in Belgium
  • Nadia Febina - in Angola
  • Society of Spectacle - in Berlin
  • Overseas Think Tank - for Indonesia
  • Indonesians Living Abroad Forum - as it says in the title

  • Expat Bloggers in Indonesia
  • PJ Bali - oil worker
  • Mat Solo - Malaysian oil worker
  • Jenny Q - an expat wife
  • Dr Bruce - retired teacher in Bali
  • Spruiked - Brett's take on things
  • Indoprism - an expat family
  • Java Jive - original photoblog (now in the Phillipines)
  • Amor Fati - good links
  • Metro Mad - Jakarta Globe columnist
  • Rob Baiton - back in Oz
  • Jakarta Kid - about street kids
  • Green Stump - in Kalimantan
  • Most Curious - née Betty Loves Blogging
  • The Mad Rotter - Henk loves Indonesian music
  • Duncan Graham - journo archives
  • Hardship Posting - more wtf
  • Indonesia Matters - loads of stuff
  • The Opinionated Diner - and NZ music
  • Patrick Guntensperger - has opinions on current issues

  • Selected Aseanist Blogs
  • SARAwho? - Southeast Asia Aggregator
  • Pelf-ism is Contagious
  • Brommel - usually in Indonesia
  • Friskodude - SF travel writer
  • Klong Walking - an Addick in Bangkok
  • Agam's Gecko - musings from Thailand

  • London Blogs
  • Diamond Geezer
  • London Daily Nature Photo
  • London Bloggers Tube Map

  • Other Fave Blogs
  • Aangirfan - who is s/he?
  • Ad Busters - ecological economic sense
  • Samizdata.net
  • Strange Games
  • The J-Walk Blog
  • Environmental Graffiti

  • Charlton
  • Doctor Kish
  • Inspector Sands
  • Forever Charlton
  • Official Charlton site
  • Addickted to Blogs
  • Ex-Charlton forward in Belize

  • I'm an Aging Hippie
  • Man
  • XTC
  • World Changing
  • MoonJune Records
  • Canterbury Sounds

  • My Youth
  • Blackheath
  • Charlton Lido
  • Charlton House
  • Woolwich Ferry
  • Greenwich Park
  • Severndroog Castle
  • Overlapping Memories
  • More Overlapping Memories
  • Map of My Stomping Ground

  • Put Your Feet Up
  • Biscuit of the week
  • 50's British TV Nostalgia
  • Hello Children, Everywhere

  • Enter your Email

    Subscribe with Bloglines

    Locations of visitors to this page

    Blog

    eXTReMe Tracker



    Listed on BlogShares

    Personal Blogs - BlogCatalog Blog Directory

    ARCHIVES
  • May 1998
  • March 2004
  • April 2004
  • May 2004
  • June 2004
  • July 2004
  • August 2004
  • September 2004
  • October 2004
  • November 2004
  • December 2004
  • January 2005
  • February 2005
  • March 2005
  • April 2005
  • May 2005
  • June 2005
  • July 2005
  • August 2005
  • September 2005
  • October 2005
  • November 2005
  • December 2005
  • January 2006
  • February 2006
  • March 2006
  • April 2006
  • May 2006
  • June 2006
  • July 2006
  • August 2006
  • September 2006
  • October 2006
  • November 2006
  • December 2006
  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007
  • May 2007
  • June 2007
  • July 2007
  • August 2007
  • September 2007
  • October 2007
  • November 2007
  • December 2007
  • January 2008
  • February 2008
  • March 2008
  • April 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2008
  • July 2008
  • August 2008
  • September 2008
  • October 2008
  • November 2008
  • December 2008
  • January 2009
  • February 2009
  • March 2009
  • April 2009
  • May 2009
  • June 2009
  • July 2009
  • August 2009
  • September 2009
  • October 2009
  • November 2009
  • December 2009
  • December 2013
  • Creative Commons Licence