Leunig and Bali Nine

So, The Age’s resident cartoonist, one Michael Leunig, has been framed. He never submitted the cartoons to the competition. For once, I totally agree with what he is saying. He never did personally, but the cartoons were of such a scandalous nature the Iranians took it on board. The first entrant in an international competition to compete with the publication of the Danish Cartoons. Unfortunately, Leunig was ashamed of having his work published for a much wider audience than the Melbourne Latte Left, which must be saying something. He pulled them. If he stood behind his work, he should have welcomed their entry.

I don’t find one of the cartoon set (there are apparently two) very amusing. It compared (all I seem to do is analyse cartoon, feels like I was back at school doing media analysis. Maybe it’s finally paying off) a sign above a Holocaust camp that read “Work Brings Freedom” (Auschwitz 1942) with “War Brings Peace” above a barb wired war area (Israel 2002). Why? It ridicules the struggle of the Jewish people to survive an event as horrific as the Holocaust. It portrays them to be warmongers out of a twisted sense of revenge. It isn’t revenge. It’s their right, and it’s an issue (much like abortion) where both sides can never be reconciled.
Any leader that attempts to compromise, as Ariel Sharon did with the Gaza Withdrawal, is labeled as soft by his own country’s left-wing. A clever politician, currently confined to a bed, he knew he could do it and it would be reasonable. Why? Israel still controls the borders, coastline and air around the Strip. Giving up that portion is leverage for the future, when Hamas (The new Palestinian Government) decides to become a sanctioned player in Pal-Israeli politics. I can see both players respecting each other for a change, but that’s yet to be seen.

Some of the Bali Nine had their sentences made yesterday. So far, we have two death sentences for the ringleaders and four life sentences for the drug mules. The remainder are sentenced today. It’s really very simple. Don’t do it. There are copious amounts of warnings displayed around the airports of Bali and Singapore (when I’ve been) as well as a Schapelle Corby’s education campaign. In hindsight, she’s lucky she only got 20 years. I remember seeing the footage of their arrest at the airport, as the drugs were untapped from their bodies and the powder weighed. The look on their faces was stony, and in the background, one of them (Renae Lawrence I think) was overheard to say that they were dead anyway. That is: confess, get off, and have your family knocked off or stay mum and be executed.
UPDATE: The Age repeated what was said on the film:
"What's the point anyway. Because . . . if we dob them in they kill our family and we're dead anyway . . . don't tell them and they'll just kill us instead and they'll leave our families alone."

Bali is not a paradise where foreigners can do as they please. Does anyone still remember Michelle Leslie? She was a model who was picked up for possession. Got a rap over the knuckles when she admitted being addicted.
When I was there last shopping just off Kuta Square (where one of the bombs was detonated in Oct 02) I was offered to buy Ganja (I think that’s what he called weed). I automatically thought this could be entrapment, and suddenly 5 cops pounce and you end up the next Australian on drug charges.
I agree with John Howard

“Can I just say to every young Australian, please take notice of this […] The warnings have been there for decades and how on
earth any young Australian can be so stupid as to take the risk is completely beyond me."

and for a change, Bomber Beazley
“"I think you've got to say people have been warned. We've just got to send a message clearly to young Australians -- this is what's
going to happen to you. Don't do it."

The Federal Government now faces a Van Nguyen situation. So many opponents of capital punishment will hog the airwaves, and the column inches to remind us we are a barbaric nation for allowing these two (so far) to be executed. The Federal Government does not dictate the policy of the Indonesian legal system, nor the laws established by the People’s Consultative Assembly. That’s the realist in me speaking. I have a friend who spends a lot of time in Singapore, and he has told me that the anti-Australian feeling was out of control during Van Nguyen’s last weeks. Rob Hulls flying out was a waste of time.
The approach to be made should be through diplomatic channels, so that those with life sentences can serve some of the time in Australian prisons. A prisoner exchange cannot be brokered by media. It would also get Schapelle home, for her fans. I’m not one of them.
As for those who face the death penalty, I hold little hope as Indonesia has (of late certainly) been tough on drugs. Unless there is more evidence to be introduced, the sentences will not be commuted. The Indonesian president SBY (Susilo Bambang Yudhono) had made it clear his clemency discretion will not be extended to those convicted of drug crimes. This issue unquestionably has legs. The post-trial process, the subsequent delays and appeals and further court time could see these people caught in legal limbo for years. I don’t want to be them.