Schapelle vs. Chika

Goaded by yet another idiot hysterical over the very idea that anyone could be nauseated by the Schapelle Corby circus, I'd like to point out another drug-smuggling case similar to that of the "obviously innocent" Schapelle's, and which ended in a similar verdict: I'm talking, of course, about the case of Chika Honda (also see here).

In 1992, Chika Honda, a 36 year old Japanese tourist, was arrested on entry at Melbourne Airport, Australia after heroin was found in her suitcase. She was later sentenced and served more than ten years in Melbourne prisons.

Chika Honda was invited on the trip by Mitsuo Katsuno, a frequent customer to the small restaurant in Omiya, Japan where she worked as a waitress. She was at the time, also studying to become a makeup artist.

Isn't it funny how things work? Not only was Ms. Honda intending to enter the same profession Ms. Corby did, but she even underwent a jailhouse religious conversion during her time behind bars in the "barbaric" foreign country in which she was handed a stiff sentence - the big difference being in this case that the "barbaric" country is the very one from which the "obviously innocent" Schapelle Corby hails. Let it be duly noted that if young white women aren't stereotypical drug pushers, young Japanese women fit the stereotype even less, while it would seem clearly far more profitable to ship drugs from Australia to uptight Japan than the other way around: in other words, by the pathetic standards of reasoning employed by Schapelle Corby's over-excitable defenders, the likelihood of this woman having been given a fair shake by Australian judges is even lower.

Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt for a moment that the Indonesian justice system has deep flaws, as witnessed by the laughable sentence handed down to Jemaah Islamiyah leader Abu Bakar Bashir, but the fact remains that for all of the shortcomings of Indonesia's judiciary, the guilty verdict handed down to Schapelle Corby almost certainly isn't one of them: it is simply stupid beyond belief to expect any court whatsoever in any part of the world to allow someone caught bringing in contraband to go free simply because he or she says someone "planted" the items in question, and there's no shortage of evidence that the real reason why Schapelle Corby sparked a level of xenophobic outrage completely absent for, say, the Bali Nine, or any other Australians, is that she happens to meet the Petra Nemcova/Runaway Bride/Natalee Holloway criteria - she's young, white, female and attractive (at least by certain people's standards).

PS: For those who insist that race had nothing to do with this stupid media circus, if describing Indonesian judges as "straight out of the trees" for daring to find Schapelle Corby guilty isn't racism, I don't know what qualifies.

PPS: Some interesting testimony on the arrest of the saintly Schapelle - hey, who are you going to believe, a pretty young woman who says that the drugs even she admits were found in her bag were "planted", or the four dusky Mohammedans who all testify to having witnessed behavior which made it obvious she knew what she was carrying? While we're at it, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty's stated opinion on the flimsy nature of Saint Schapelle's defense is just proof positive that he too is an "angry" and "ignorant" man who allows his rage and unfamiliarity with the enlightened attitudes of ordinary Australians to drive his perverse views on Corby's supposed innocence, as are all the other legal experts who agree with him (and with me) ...

Comments

[Jim]

"Straight out of the trees"? Can't people bother to keep their racism's straight?

This is such an old story that you would think that it would have become folklore by now; don't trust a wolf you meet in the woods. Everyone needs to have a chance to be useful, so I hope the media plays this all the way up - it might save some other equally stupid young woman.

And you would think the Australians would be grateful for Bashir's light sentence. It will be a lot easier to get at him if he's not in prison.

The Australians don't appear to be able to bring much pressure to bear on the Indonesians anyway, so why do they bother crying? Maybe they can threaten to help another chunk of the country break off. Indonesia is not a pariah state but it sure is starting to look like a leper.

[Abiola Lapite]

"Can't people bother to keep their racism's straight?"

Hey, don't you know all brown people are monkeys by definition?

http://www.photoduck.com/photos.aspx?gid=2180&pxo=0
http://www.hightimes.com/ht/news/content.php?bid=346&aid=24
http://www.hightimes.com/ht/news/content.php?bid=378&aid=24
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/boycottindonesia/signatures
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15422287-31317,00.html

Hmm, "rag-head fucking monkeys", "filthy, dirty little monkeys", "LITTLE BLACK MONKEY LYING FUCK", " from the monkey baggage handlers to the chimp judges", "these Monkeys locking up and bombing young Aussies" - such eloquently stated and enlightened attitudes from the Schapelle-supporters, no? If I were an Indonesian reading these remarks, I'd be half tempted to start agitating for the death penalty for "Our Schapelle" in order to teach these bigoted morons a lesson.

Getting angry at Bashir's sentence I can fully understand, as the man is guilty at the very least of inciting mass murder: what ticks me off is that this pretty much open-and-shut case of a greedy and stupid young woman actually seems to have sparked more outrage amongst Australians than that a man responsible for the deaths of more than 200 of their fellow citizens should have gotten a slap on the wrist. It'll be a cold day in hell before you see any of these nuts steaming from the ears because some 17-year old kid of Asian extraction is hung for drug peddling, even if he does have an Australian passport.

[Yanicke Forfang]

Abiola, you are like a tornado. I am in awe.

[Abiola Lapite]

And you are a troll, of whose lame attempts at sarcasm I am not in the least in awe; now go make a nuisance of yourself elsewhere, and don't bother sending me any more email messages about your lunatic obsession.

[Jim]

"seems to have sparked more outrage amongst Australians than that a man responsible for the deaths of more than 200 of their fellow citizens should have gotten a slap on the wrist."

The Maiden and the Dragon again. Reference the d*ckdance around that Natalie girl in Aruba. It ws a sad story, but it got far more than its share of play, didn't it? Some one pointed out that Bali is a vaction destination for the segment of the population in Australia that doesn't get much sympathy from the opinion-makers of that country - too working-class - though I wonder who some of those articles I am not going to read are aimed at.

I am not going to read those articels because i don't have your patience, but I have some conventional advice (worth what you ar patying for it, but here goes...) - arguing reasonably with a real bigot or true-believer of any stripe is like wrestling with a pig. You both get dirty, but the pig enjoys it. The only way to settle the argument is to blow them away, either physically or emotionally. Showing up with a member one of these untermenschliche groups in command of a US miltary unit works on a lot of people - whichever solution you decide to go with. I AM NOT suggesting a violent solution to every argument, but I just am all out of patience with intractable bigotry.

[Andrew]

Well, clearly what happened is that she met a guy who asked her to bring something with her to Bali, which unbeknownst to her had marijuana hidden inside her; but never fear, because once in jail she will engage in entertaining lip syncing to "Like a Virgin" and become good friends with all the other prisoners; and her barrister ex-boyfriend will save the day by finding the guy who planted the pot and they will get back together and live happily ever after, and her story will be made into a movie starring Renee Zellweger.

Oh, wait.

[dsquared]

[Some interesting testimony on the arrest of the saintly Schapelle - hey, who are you going to believe, a pretty young woman who says that the drugs even she admits were found in her bag were "planted", or the four dusky Mohammedans who all testify to having witnessed behavior which made it obvious she knew what she was carrying? ]

hmmm someone, possibly a divinity, is trying to make an ironic point about sharia standards of evidence.

[Rowe]

Hi,

I just wanted to tell the world that I'm a dumb Aussie troll!