In Reply to: has anone seen the news website posted by Hazmd on Sunday, 28. August 2005 at 11:18 Bali Time:
There's a young lady who works at my bank who is an Australian Indonesian. She noticed I had a book related to Indonesia and asked if I was planning to visit there. I said I was, and was hoping she'd give me some info on some places I've never been, but all she said was, "Make sure you don't take any drugs."
What have we done to this poor girl? She obviously doesn't read the Indonesian papers any more and, like everyone else, believes Australians are being targetted, even though there's only been half a dozen cases out of thousands of recent busts that involve Australians.
All the cases have been very different, too: One bringing in, a group of nine taking out, a dude with some smack and thousands of assorted pills, a guy with a tiny bit of grass, and a model with two pills.
Australians are not the only foreigners busted. More Dutch people have been arrested, and the huge ecstacy haul came from the Netherlands. Heaps of foreigners from various parts of Asia have been arrested. Considering the amount of Australians who visit Indonesia, and the number of raids that have occurred recently, it's a miniscule percentage.
Having said that, here's an interesting thing...
Two cops in Jakarta were busted the other day for rape and blackmail. They set up a prostitute and her driver by planting two ecstacy tablets on the woman and then busting both of them for possession. They demanded a payoff, but weren't satisfied with the amount that the people could give them, so the woman agreed to have sex with the cops. The report didn't say how the cops were caught. (But it's good to know Indonesia is cracking down on other problems as well.)
Even though this took place 1200kms away from Bali, it adds a smigde of "Hmmmm factor" to the case of the model busted for two tablets. In my mind, anyway. Though it doesn't explain why she didn't just pay them off. Then again, maybe she's an idealist or a bit dopey. Or maybe she's guilty. Still... I said "Hmmmm..."
So maybe you do need to be a bit more careful if you're attractive.
That makes me feel safer, anyway.