Schapelle Corby and Australians' anger JP/6/DEWI

Schapelle 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 an anti-Indonesian 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 the publication of my article in Australia's The 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, asserting that this is 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 for other people, unconsciously believe that they are superior to people from Asian, especially Southeast Asian, countries. When they give, and show their compassion, they expect the recipients of their gifts and compassion 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 a deep pathos in this attitude, because it reflects a degree of defensiveness which many Australians, secure in their own sense of self-identity, do not feel. Along with the vitriolic attacks in the letters-to-the-editor pages and the airwaves, there have also been those who have tried to point out how irrational and emotional the attacks have been.

When we transpose this feeling of superiority and defensiveness onto the Corby case, we see the anger of a group of people who regard the arrest, let alone the 20 year 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 the pain of Indonesia's democratization process, corruption eradication drive, massive problems with drug-related crimes and disease. 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 about Indonesia, only a minority, a vocal minority nonetheless, show viciousness without compunction. Most, when it is 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 could not react the way they reacted 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 at the bottom of the heap. And for Australia, Asia, especially Southeast Asia, is it.

It is therefore worth noting that increasing numbers of Australians have indeed risen 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 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-Caucasians 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 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 Melbourne-based journalist.