Schapelle's strife stirs Aussie emotions

Schapelle Corby

SYDNEY - Was poor Schapelle stunningly stupid or set up?

A drug importer, an unsuspecting marijuana "mule" or an innocent Ocker -- a victim of her nationality in a country where Australians were targeted by Islamic fundamentalist bombers not so long ago?

Accused drug trafficker Schapelle Corby's guilt or innocence has energised public opinion like no other Australian female inmate save Lindy Chamberlain.

While the 27-year-old Gold Coast beauty therapy student awaits her fate in an Indonesian jail outrage at, and fascination with, her predicament continues unabated.

There are 153 Australian nationals behind bars throughout the world, mostly in South East Asia for crimes similar to which Corby is accused.

Thirty-eight have been convicted, others await trail. Two are on death row in Vietnam and Singapore, though you rarely hear of Nguyen Tuong Van and Le My Linh.

You must have lived down a mine shaft in Kalgoorlie since October not to be aware of the attractive and Anglo Saxon Corby's fight for justice.

Since her arrest at Denpasar Airport with a boogie board bag stuffed with 4.1kg of marijuana, petitions -- including one started by an American bikini model -- and online fundraising auctions show thousands of Australians are captivated by her ordeal.

The overwhelming feeling is Corby is the unwitting patsy for a flawed drug trafficking operation orchestrated by baggage handlers. It came unstuck when someone failed to retrieve her bag after the drugs were added.

That particular defence strategy appeared to be strengthened by this week's busting of a cocaine ring at Sydney Airport.

Or perhaps, Corby is at the core of something altogether more sinister.

One chat room participant expounded a popular conspiracy: "Someone planted the drugs on her for political reasons to see her hang -- Islamic terrorists bent on destroying Aussies for Iraq or whatever. "

There is an unshakeable belief that no Australian could be as stupid as to loosely pack a brick of dope into an easily opened bag and try to sneak it into a country which openly warns visitors that possession of any substantial amount of drugs will mean death.

The "Bali Nine" subsequently debunked that notion yet Corby, it seems, exemplifies the lingering fear in travelling Australians of being thrown into Third World jails for crimes they did not commit.

As the young Australian backpacker who gets into legal strife in a foreign country, Corby has struck a chord with a public already on edge about terrorism specifically and Asia in general, according to Dr Jason Sternberg, a lecturer in media and communications at the Queensland University of Technology.

He believes Corby's cause has been taken up so passionately because her arrest coincides with a sensitive time in Australia's history.

The tradition of Bali as Australia's Club Med was shattered by the 2002 bombing -- terrorists are on the doorstep and not surprisingly many Australians are again suspicious of Asia.

That fear, said Dr Sternberg, drew upon the impact of movies such as Midnight Express which have perpetuated the idea that foreign legal systems are inherently inhumane and corrupt.

"The Australian public has almost taken what's happened to Schapelle Corby as a personal affront," he told The Sydney Morning Herlad newspaper.

"The perception is that she is going through a kangaroo court.

"What is happening to her speaks to a deeply, deeply racist undercurrent that runs through Australian culture at the moment. It plays on the fear that we are suddenly, somehow unexpectedly under threat from Asia again.

"All these transnational tensions are being played out through this one poor woman stuck in prison, facing life in jail. "

Helen of Victoria validates his assessment: "Schapelle Corby is a victim of money hungry drug smugglers, incompetent airport and customs personnel and nations that care more about their image, money and power than they do about people," she wrote on a pro-Corby website this week.

"If Schapelle dies in Indonesia, I, for one, will never forget this atrocity. I will make sure that my children never visit Indonesia and that my grandchildren never visit a country that has so little value for human life. "

Meanwhile, Tasmanian travel agent Tony Foster's contribution to the cause is to compromise his business by refusing to send another client to Bali should Corby be found guilty and sent to prison when the verdict in announced on May 27.

"We would try to point them in a different direction. If they still wanted Bali I would politely tell them that there's a travel agent across the road that will help."

The day Foster made his stand he was inundated with 192 emails or phone calls of support.

- NZPA