VIVAnews is reporting that the Australian Attorney General has made an offer to the Indonesian Attorney General that is essence goes along these lines:
"There are 12,000 Indonesians in Australian prisons with an average sentence of five years, we will trade those 12,000 for Schapelle Corby". At least this is the understanding of Babul Khoir Harahap, the Head of the Information Center at the Office of the Attorney General in Jakarta.
According to Harahap, the Attorney General of Indonesia has agreed. The matter has now been sent to the Minister for Law and Human Rights, Patrialis Akbar, for approval. My guess is that with a clemency appeal pending that this will also cross the desk of the President, SBY.
This offer apparently was provided by Roger Wilkis of the Attorney General's Department in Australia to the Attorney General of Indonesia, Basrief Arief. Australia's Ambassador, Greg Moriarty was also in attendance at this meeting of the minds.
Corby has received 17 months worth of remissions to date and this program of remissions is likely to accelerate as she serves more of her sentence. Nevertheless, the prospect of a "swap agreement" and immediate freedom must be a positive development for Corby in her current fragile mental state.
Then again, this story could be a beat-up or a complete misrepresentation of the discussions held and any offer made. It seems outrageous that the Australian government is going to swap 12,000 Indonesians convicted of crimes in Australia for one Australian convicted of a drug-possession crime in Indonesia. This must surely weaken Australia's bargaining position for other Australian prisoners doing time in Indonesian jails. What is Australia going to offer up for the release of members of the Bali Nine or more importantly to get those Bali Nine members on death row, off of death row?
I am not against the idea, in principle of a swap, but there needs to be a whole lot more information on what the swap entails. The response from the Australian public is not necessarily going to be favourable. There are plenty of Australians who think that Schapelle Corby has done enough time for the crime she was convicted of. However, they might not be so certain that she is worth 12,000 Indonesians in order to secure that early freedom.
This is certainly an interesting development if it pans out to be true.
11 comments:
I think you need to take a couple of aspirin, and take long lie down, to cool off Rob. According to these figures (2006, near enough):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_Australian
. . . there's around 51,000 Australians of Indonesian origin. Are you suggesting almost 25% of them are in prison? Methinks you've swallowed an extremely suspect fish hook, line and sinker . . . no ethnicity in Australia has an incarceration rate that high. It's ridiculous.
@ Kim...
Maybe. But, you are free to reply as you have. I allow people to comment on my blog.
Nope, do not need to take an aspirin and lie down. Nope, no need to cool off.
Did you read the VIVAnews report that was linked into the post? I checked it a couple of times to make sure that the figure was 12,000 and not 1,200 or 120 even.
It is what it is, a news report. When something else is reported that suggests that it is a crock, then I will add a postscript to the original post making that known.
By the way, if this is the Kim of Women for Schapelle fame, I am wondering when the Qantas book is to be published?
If my understanding is correct, this will prove to be enlightening as to the enormous conspiracy (suspect fish hook?) that Australians have swallowed since 2004.
Enjoy your day.
@ Kim...
Did you actually read the story? I went back to check it because I thought I must have written something a little confusing.
Did you read the part about the story maybe being a "beat up"?
It seems that Detik.com has picked up the story relating to the meeting and the proposal to transfer / swap prisoners between Australia and Indonesia.
http://us.detiknews.com/read/2011/01/11/220752/1544466/10/basrief-australia-baru-tawarkan-transfer-napi
It seems that the Indonesian Attorney General is acknowledging that the meeting took place, but he is denying that Schapelle Corby was a subject of discussion during that meeting.
The Attorney General has already stated that the issue is now with the relevant ministers, Law and Human Rights and the foreign affairs.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if the Governments would agree to swap 12,000 prisoners for Schapelle. That would be a tremendous saving for tax payers! I hope it happens. But reading the article, it merely confirms the usual ongoing discussion on PTA. The sticking points still remain and the Australian Government is mindful of the decision it makes that will ultimately have an affect on the negotiations that are underway by other countries.
@ Kay...
Yes, it would be a savings to taxpayers, but surely that is not the only consideration, is it? ;)
Yes, the Jakarta Globe is running with the story of the meeting. The meeting has now morphed into a discussion aimed at further advancing the PTA negotiations with Indonesia.
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/indonesian-attorney-general-in-talks-about-fate-of-australian-convicts/416417
The gist though does seem to revert to the idea that Corby would be serving out an agreed remainder of her sentence in an Australian jail.
My personal opinion will be: lost in translation on the Indonesian side.
I don't think Schapelle Corby is that important to be traded with 12.000 Indonesians, no?
@ Ecky...
Yep! More recent reports are suggesting that this is most definitely a "lost in translation" event.
It was an interesting story to start though ;)
but that said, VIVAnews is still running with this:
http://nasional.vivanews.com/news/read/198789-pertukaran-napi-sebaiknya-tidak-dilakukan
damn she's lookin ugly, dyed hair black to blend in?
blame it on the genes, convict genes
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