Corby and Australians' anger

Corby and Australians' anger

Dewi Anggraeni, Melbourne

Indonesians may be bewildered by the frenzy the Schapelle
Corby case has whipped up in Australia, followed by various
manifestations of anti-Indonesian sentiment backlash. Rob
Goodfellow's article on May 31 in this newspaper has to a great
extent explained what was behind the rage.

Having followed the events leading up to her sentencing, and
being the mother of a daughter myself, I feel deep sympathy for
Corby. However I saw an angle which Goodfellow, being an
Australian Indonesianist, may have overlooked.

Following publication of my article in Australia's Age
newspaper on May 31, 2005, I received several calls, not all
agreeing with me. Interestingly, in my article I do not say
anything negative about the majority of Australians, indicating
instead, that the hardest to take among the "vocal minority" are
those who demand reimbursement for the donations made to the
tsunami victims. I describe their behavior as immature and
infantile, making Australia come across as a nation who gives in
order to wield power on the recipient later.

Those who disagree with me accused me of being heartless, as
what they would expect of Indonesians. One caller actually
reprimanded me, saying that calling Australians immature and
infantile was not a nice thing to say for someone who has
benefited from living in Australia.

I realized then what I was witnessing.

Many Australians, even those who show compassion to other
people, unconsciously believe that they are superior to people
from Asian, especially south east Asian, countries. When they
give, and show their compassion, they expect the recipients of
their gifts and compassionss to be grateful, and what is more, to
show their gratitude. In the caller's consciousness, I was
ungrateful. Having been "lifted" from an undoubtedly worse life
in Indonesia, I dared to turn around and call any Australians at
all, who have been generous for allowing me to live here,
immature and infantile.

Unfortunately there is deep pathos in this attitude, because
it reflects a degree of defensiveness which many Australians,
secure with their own self-identity and a sense of self-reality,
do not feel. Along with the vitriolic attacks in the letter-to-
the-editor pages and the airwaves, there have also been those who
try to point out how irrational and emotional the attacks have
been.

When we transpose this superior defensiveness onto the Corby
case, we see the anger of a group of people who regard the
arrest, let alone the 20 years' sentence, as gross impudence --
even a kind of uprising against the authority -- on the part of
those who are inferior, who dared to subject one of their
daughters to unspeakable indignity. They are not familiar with
Indonesia at all, so they do not know about Indonesia's pain of
democratization process, corruption eradication drive, massive
problems with drug-related crimes and illnesses. And more
importantly, they are not aware that Indonesia has a judicial
system at all, and that an increasing number of Indonesians are
as educated, if not more educated, than they are.

The most important thing to emphasize is that, while the
majority of Australians lack awareness of Indonesia, only a
minority, a vocal minority nonetheless, show viciousness without
compunction. Most, when pointed out to them, will accede that
they have been unreasonable.

Most Australians have had to suffer being patronized by the
Britons, often openly and publicly. And Australians have been
arrested and prosecuted in the British Isles. While this has
caused anguish and maybe anger on the part of their families and
friends, their families and friends cannot react they way they
react to the Corby case, because they are familiar with the legal
system, and I suspect, deep down they know they would only come
across as impudent if they did. And it is human nature to seek
someone you think is inferior, if only to know that you are not
in the bottom of the heap. And for Australia, Asia, especially
south east Asia, is it.

It is therefore worth noting that many and increasing numbers
of Australians have indeed raised above that basic human instinct
by consciously educating themselves out of it. And most of these
people do not easily take offense at patronizing attitudes from
any other nationals, be they Britons or Americans. And they are
comfortable with the idea that there are other social, legal or
cultural environments apart from their own. More importantly,
they are not threatened by non-Caucasian people who are as
informed and as educated as they are.

The Corby case has unfortunately reminded everyone that there
are still Australians who can do damage to their own country's
image. And as neighbors and friends, Indonesians need not give
them too much credit or time. After all, Indonesia itself is far
from perfect.

The writer is a journalist.