link
more info on the caseSupport grows for boycott over arrest of 14-year-old
Dan Proudman
October 9, 2011
A FACEBOOK page calling for the the 14-year-old NSW boy being held in Indonesia over the alleged possession of cannabis in Bali to be freed had attracted more than 1000 members as of last night, with growing support for Australians to boycott Bali until the Indonesian government releases the boy.
''Boycott Bali, poor kid yes stupid I know young dumb but still should not be in with rapist he s only a kid,'' one woman wrote. Another wrote: ''Boycott bali corrupt people everywhere. Teach them a lesson and ruin there tourism.''
But although there was widespread support for the teen's release, there were many who were critical of his actions. ''Do the crime, do the time,'' one wrote.
Greg Combet, the federal member for Charlton, which takes in Morisset Park, where the boy lives, said yesterday that he backed efforts to bring him home.
''I think in these circumstances you can understand the terrible anxiety that his family must be experiencing, let alone the boy himself, and so I think it is incumbent upon the government to provide all support we can,'' Mr Combet said.
The NSW Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, said the boy's arrest should serve as a warning to all youngsters.
''If there's one message that comes out of this terrible incident, it's don't go overseas and commit crime, particularly drug crime. Because your life may change forever.''
Now when we last had these idiot people from developed nations getting caught with drugs in Asia and getting pretty hefty punishment, I just had a good laugh at their goddamn stupidity. However.. for this kid I think Indonesia would be better off just letting us take him off their hands and paying for his rehabiliation, for the following reasons.
1. Those who argue that using illicit substances is a victimless crime, will find that argument must surely only applies to the addict, and the dealer doesn't have such luxury. In those previous cases (eg Van Nguyen in Singapore, Schapelle Corby in Bali, the Bali nine in.. well Bali, and that British guy China terminated who magically developed a mental illness when he was caught with no prior medical record of such an affliction) they were carrying high amounts which makes it hard to argue they were an addict. In fact some of them blatantly weren't addicts and did it for the $$$$.
In this case, even if the idiotic kid was an adult I would have felt he could have gotten off lightly, as one would suspect him being an addict (see second article). I can't remember how much he got caught with, but it most probably isn't much.
1 a) his age would have also given him some form of mitigation. I do think since this appears on the surface to be a "victimless crime" type scenario, even as an adult I can't imagine a harsh punishment.
2. Since he is an Australian citizen, one can argue we do have responsibility to clean up our mess as it were. We can pay for his rehab, and take him off the hands of the Indonesian authorities. Given the arguments from 1), I don't think it would be a great loss of justice if he were to not be punished.
3. Boycotting Bali would be assinine and stupid. It punishes the Bali tourist industry who were not at fault in this kid's stupidity, and arguable lessens the chances for diplomats to negotiate with the Indonesians.
4. He should not be in an adult jail while awaiting the authorities to sort out his case, but apparently Indonesia doesn't have much in the way of such facilities. All the more reason that our diplomats be allowed to do their jobs without stupid morons publicly giving the Indonesians less "wiggle room" to negotiate in good faith. We should also do things like pay for the boy's lawers, maybe even offer to pay for the cost of keeping him in prison as some sort of face saving measure, and the Indonesians can put him on a black list or something so he never sets foot in that country again.
Thoughts from others?
