That both women are good-looking helps my mild case of cynicism.
Corby stares at us, doe-eyed and desperate, from behind prison
bars.Minogue, who we're constantly told is the cutest woman alive,
sends cheery messages from her sickbed. Both women rate big
coverage, the whiff of long imprisonment, if not death, and
disfigurement adding to their allure.
In Minogue's case, the thought of her losing one perfect bre-ast
has been agonising. There could be no worse fate, surely, than to
be disfigured at the height of your fame and beauty, and it's
surely no accident that photographs of her lately have featured
deep decolletage from which her bosoms artfully threaten to bounce.
Is such delectable cleavage possible with prosthetic bre-asts? I
doubt it.
Corby is more enigmatic. She insists she's innocent of smuggling
cannabis into Bali, and the ease with which it was found in her
luggage suggests stupidity or lunacy. That alone, along with her
protestations of innocence, will have persuaded many of her
innocence. Her attempt at smuggling, if that's what it was, makes
no sense in a country so frank about its draconian laws. Corby may
protest her innocence in heart-rending fashion, but she wouldn't be
the first offender to turn on such a performance or the first to
take mad risks.
If crime made sense, after calm and intelligent reflection,
everyone would be doing it.
We know so little about this attractive woman, now 27, who's
described as a student beautician, although her past marriage to a
Japanese man, when she was 20. The marriage lasted only three
months, before Corby returned to Australia from Japan, where they'd
been living. I'd call it adventurous and unusual for a Queensland
girl to marry a Japanese man, and considering the cultural
differences, it was also a hell of a gamble.There are many websites
devoted to Corby's innocence, and few calm reports on her plight.
Her fan base says she's "a carefree girl next door who enjoys,
fashion, music and surfing" who is "now wrongfully accused,
incarcerated, liberty taken from her".
No mention is made of what looks bad for her: her attempt to stop
Indonesian authorities from opening her bag. Four independent
witnesses attest to this. Nor is there a convincing explanation for
how she failed to notice the bag's extra weight after the cannabis
was, by her account, placed by someone else.
The Indonesian justice system, however different from ours, should
astound no-one. It applies to Indonesians, and I can't see why it
should be different for foreigners there, even if they're
good-looking and Caucasian. Why would Corby be special enough to
get off scot- free when the evidence against her is strong and she
can't provide proof of her innocence? An Indonesian woman of equal
charm would be in the same predicament. And how bout the case of
Australian Nguyen Tuong Van, a 24 year old awaiting execution in
Changi Prison after being convicted of importing 400grams of
heroin. Few would have heard of his case in Australia yet no-one
could possible have missed the emotive, saturation coverage of
Corby's plight.
How odd we are. We're thunder struck when we come up against nation
states that mean what they say, however terrifying it is, and see
no special reason to be nice to us. I wonder what ordinary
Indonesians think about Corby, and why they should even give a
damn.
