Obama's Mom Arrested for Drug Possession in Indonesia?

Having just lost the House of Representatives, and having had his majority severely dented in the Senate, things only seem to be getting worse for President Obama. In news out of Jakarta, the actress, Cara Lachelle, who played Obama's mother, Ann Durham, in the film "Obama Anak Menteng" (Obama: The Menteng Kid or "Little Obama") has been arrested for drug possession.

Lachelle, a South African model and presenter and sometime actress, was arrested at the Rasuna Said Apartments in possession of 1.19 grams of methamphetamine. The police found out about her drug taking habits from her Indonesian dealer who they had arrested some time earlier.

For details on the film and profiles of all those involved head to www.obamaanakmenteng.com.

According to police they will only be pursuing a case against her that claims she her possession was for personal use. Generally, these cases play out in a "time served" sort of a way. In essence, she confesses, claims to be an addict, agrees to get some counselling, and promises not to do it again. By this time she would have been in detention for 5 or so months and she will then be sentenced to a sentence that allows for her immediate release.

My guess is that she will not be getting a visa to appear in any prequel or sequel to the film if one is ever made.

Movember...

I am all for good causes, and this is one.

Prostate cancer is a killer of men, and it is killing us in ever-increasingly large numbers. Early detection is key. Any man who is 40-years-old really should consider getting checked out. Movember, the month formally known as November, also raises funds for depression.

Movember started in Australia. It has already spread to a number of other countries, including the USA, The Netherlands, Finland, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, UK, Ireland and Spain. Each of these countries has an official Movember. However, there is plenty of informal support in most other countries throughout the world.

So, if you can get involved, then you should. Men's health is important too!

By the looks of things, I am off to Target to buy a T-Shirt.

Maybe I should post photographs of the facial hair...then again, maybe not!

Extradition and a Fear of HIV...

There are many people out there in this big bad world of ours who fear being exposed to HIV and developing AIDS. This fear seems to be further intensified where a person is under threat of a prison term in a nation where HIV / AIDS is prevalent, or rampant, in the prison system where they would serve a sentence if convicted.

Adrian Kiki Ariawan, a convicted Indonesian felon, currently detained in Australia is fighting his pending extradition to Indonesia based on an argument that sending him back to a prison system where he may contract HIV is a breach of his human rights and a breach of prevailing international humanitarian law.

At this point, you might be shaking your head and saying, "what?" But, this is not as far-fetched as it sounds. And, more importantly the approach has been successfully argued in the Australian Federal Court in 2004. In de Bruyn vs. The Minister for Justice and Customs (FCAFC 2004), the Federal Court allowed the appeal of the lower court decision that granted the extradition.

The Federal Court also quashed the arrest warrant with the reasoning that the Minister had not given sufficient consideration to the humanitarian grounds associated with extraditing someone to a penal system where there is a risk of contracting HIV.

de Bruyn was fighting extradition to South Africa. The support for the petition included a number of articles that noted increased risks of HIV infection, particularly post-incarceration.

With respect to the risk, it would be interesting to see whether the Australian courts would consider a response from Indonesian authorities in the form of a guarantee that Ariawan would be jailed in isolation or only with other inmates of negative HIV status. This would presumably reduce and perhaps eliminate any risk of Ariawan contracting HIV while serving his sentence.

I am sure that serving the rest of your life in solitary confinement is most probably a breach of one's human rights, but if the fear is of contracting some disease whilst in prison then being separated from all other prisoners would seemingly resolve that fear, and it would be the choice of the convict themselves.

It must be noted that Australian prisons are not HIV-free nor are they violence-free, sexual or otherwise, although medical treatment is considerably better than what is available in the Indonesian penal system. It also needs to be noted that all prisoners in New South Wales are tested on entry into the system, usually three months after entry into the system and on release back into the community. As I remember it, tests can also be conducted at other times if thought warranted or if requested by the relevant authorities or the prisoners themselves.

I am going to have to do a little more reading on this subject, as I find it really interesting. It has not much to do with my life now that I have moved from lawyering work into teaching, but the legal stuff still remains a fascination (some might say an obsession) for me.

Ariawan has been sentenced to a life term for his role in the embezzling of Bank Liquidity funds offered to Bank Surya.

The Morgan Freeman Chain of Command...

Checking out the daily Buzz Feed I came across this rather funny little poster.

It would seem that Morgan Freeman can play just about anyone and has been just about everyone. I am not sure about the location of the pimp though. He sort of seems a little out of place where he is at the moment. It would seem that being a pimp is higher up the chain of command than driver.

Enjoy!

Howard Snubbed for the Status Quo?

It would seem that being a cricket tragic and the former Prime Minister of Australia for 10 or so years are not qualifications enough to be rubber-stamped as a vice president of the International Cricket Council (ICC). The current format sees a rotational policy in operation where the vice-presidents rotate through the presidency of the ICC.

Unfortunately, for the former PM and self-declared cricket tragic, the powers that be aligned against him and have seemingly thwarted his attempt for a chair at the big table.

I am not sure that this should necessarily be seen as an insult to either John Howard or to Australia. The wash-up of this is likely to focus on a desire of some nations to keep the status quo, perhaps even some might want to discuss that the corrupting nature of power is at work here where vested interests are not going to allow the organisation to be cleaned up. There have been charges in the past that corruption is rampant in cricket and that the ICC does not have the desire or the power to clean it up.

There is one thing for sure, John Howard would be coming in all guns blazing. But, this is all hypothetical now as his nomination has hit the skids big time.

Too bad, but Ho Hum...

Miss Indonesia -- Learning to Speak Indonesian

I would have figured that to become Miss Indonesia that the ability to speak Indonesian, even Indonesian like Cinta Laura's hybrid version, would be a pre-requisite for entry into the competition. However, the crowning of the current Miss Indonesia proves otherwise.

The crowning of Karenina Sunny Halim (sometimes spelt Kerenina) is a interesting one. The young women are always stunningly beautiful, but pageants are supposed to have extended beyond the superficial looks to the judging of the women's skills and contributions to the greater community and not just whether she looks like a knock-out in an evening dress and a swimming costume. There is no doubt that Karenina is a beautiful young woman.

There is also little doubt that she is smart. She holds qualifications in public relations, teaching, performing arts, music, and marketing, among others. There is also little doubt that she does not speak much Indonesian. The question then is whether or not she is the best choice to represent Indonesia on the international stage?

Karenina needed a translator in order to be able to understand the questions from the Indonesian judges of the pageant. This is akin to, let's say, the winner of the Miss Australia pageant requiring a translator to answer the judges' questions in English. I don't know that it would ever happen.

It seems that Karenina is also a little short on the knowledge of Indonesian culture front as well. My guess is that she is in for a crash course in the Indonesian language and the culture of the vast archipelago that is Indonesia.

Nevertheless, I wish her nothing but the best as she represents Indonesia in the Miss World competition to be held in Johannesburg in South Africa.

It's Official (or is it)?

Well, it seems when things go bad they go bad across the board. A group of international petroleum geologists looking at the mud volcano (photo) in Sidoarjo in East Java have made a statement to the effect that the cause of this disaster was drilling and not some distant earthquake as claimed by the companies involved in the drilling.

The main company involved is part of the Bakrie empire. The Bakrie empire is slowly but surely unraveling as loan and debt pressure forces the group to sell off some of its best assets in order to make ends meet.

The petroleum geologists were meeting at a conference in Cape Town (South Africa). The view is not universal among the 74 experts in attendance. Three of them still consider the earth quake scenario the most likely cause.

These are the key reasons that drilling rather than the earthquake is the cause:

• the earthquake was too small and too far away to have had a role.
• the well was being drilled at the same time and only 150 m from the volcano site.
• the well took a huge influx of fluid the day before the eruption, resulting in pressures that the well could not tolerate.
• the pressure measured in the well after the influx provides strong evidence that the well was leaking and even evidence for the initial eruption at the surface.

Does this end the debate and have any implications for compensation. Probably not!