Innocent until proven guilty

While I think Dewi Anggraeni's take on Australians' attitude to Indonesia is interesting and informative, I think it goes too far. For every Aussi with a racist or xenophobic view, there are many thousands who have normal, friendly outlook toward Indonesia and Indonesians. I think it is easy to misread Australian's anger about the Corby trial, given our sensationalist press and given our government's tendency to foster xenophobia in the population for political purposes.

Many Aussies are upset about the way the Corby trial has progressed, but that anger is as much about our government's handling of the case as it is about Indonesia's judiciary. Our federal police chief sent a letter to the court stating that there was no corruption at our airports, a fact that has been found to be totally false. Check-in film and baggage weight information was not made available; no baggage handlers have been interviewed and no expert legal counsel was made available to Corby's defense team until the very last minute.

Another matter that worries Australians is Bali's judicial system. The police did not fingerprint the bag, they did not check for the origin of the cannabis, they did not film the opening of the bags. And why they did not look into possible baggage tampering at the Bali airport? The prosecution boasted publicly that they only prosecuted guilty people.

Where is the presumption of innocence? The judges openly boasted they had never found anyone innocent. The judges did not take into account that Corby has no history of drug pushing and that other tourists have arrived in Bali with drugs mysteriously appearing in their bags (this is well documented and known to our embassy in Bali). The judges publicly stated that Corby had not proved her innocence. Why is there no transcript of the court case, so anyone can look at all the evidence and the background to the verdict at a later date?

Add to this the manhandling of Corby by the police into and out of the courtroom, the disgraceful media scrum inside and outside the courtroom, the disgusting facilities and food at the jail where she is housed. These issues must trouble Indonesians as well. God knows how many innocent people are in jail if the judges never find anyone innocent.

All I hope for now is that the court of appeal will take the correct "innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt" approach, and review all the information fairly. I hope they will demand from our federal police any information that will shed light on this case.

BREFNEY RUHL, Byron Bay, Australia