Indonesia warns against Bali boycott over Australian's drug case
Indonesia warns against Bali boycott over Australian's drug case
Rod McGuirk, Associated Press/Canberra
Calls for a tourist boycott of Bali to protest an Australian woman's 20-year sentence for smuggling marijuana onto the Indonesian island are driving a wedge between the two countries, an Indonesian official said on Monday.
Several travel agents have advocated the boycott, along with relatives of Schapelle Corby, 27, who was convicted and sentenced last week for smuggling 4.1 kilograms of marijuana onto Bali in October.
Many Australians believe Corby's tearful claims of innocence.
Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa warned against a boycott, with negotiations to start next week on Australia's push for a prisoner transfer agreement that could let Corby and 13 other Australians in Indonesian prisons serve their sentences at home.
"With the greatest respect -- and the greatest sympathy, also, even for the feelings of Australians to Miss Corby's case -- using this case (to) drive a wedge between the two peoples and two governments is ... not advisable," Marty told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
He said the proposed boycott could neutralize recent improvements in the neighbor countries' relations since they hit a low in 1999, when Australia led a UN military force to restore order in Indonesia's former East Timor province in the bloody aftermath of its vote for independence.
A new era of cooperation began when the two countries launched a joint investigation into the 2002 terrorist bombings on Bali that killed 202 people.
Relations further improved with the inauguration of Indonesia's first directly elected president, and Australia's generous help after the Dec. 26 tsunami devastated parts of Indonesia.
Marty said a tourist boycott "will be totally alien, totally in contrast to the fact that the two governments' relations have been on a better footing."
Australia hopes to expedite a prisoner exchange treaty following the Corby verdict. But Marty said the process would likely to take longer than Australians hope -- if an agreement is reached at all.
Indonesia would oppose an interim deal tailored for Corby, he said.
The court judgment has outraged Australians, with opinion polls showing the vast majority believe Corby is innocent.
Many have urged the government to do more for her -- and some want the government to reconsider its A$1 billion (US$780 million) tsunami aid package to Indonesia.
Despite the government warning that criticizing Indonesia could damage Corby's prospects when an appeal court decides whether her sentence is appropriate, her supporters are organizing a national day of protest on July 10 -- her 28th birthday.
Organizer Rachelle Hamilton said she believes thousands of people will take to the streets in marches across Australia on the day.
Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told CNN television on Monday that he had spoken to Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda on Sunday about the Corby case.
"We both understand that there's a certain amount of public emotion about this issue," Downer said. "Our government ... understands that in the end, these are matters for the courts, not matters of political interference with the courts."