We Take Issue with Those Seeking to Censure the Australian Federal Police for their Handling of the Bali Nine Arrests.
A petition was filed last week by Australian backbench parliamentarian Gary Hardgrave and 1,500 supporters condemning the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for "delivering up" the notorious "Bali Nine" for death sentences by providing information to the Bali police that led to the group's arrest at Bali's airport with a damming 8.3 kilograms of heroin taped to their bodies. The Australian petitioners are irate with the Australian police, claiming that "Australian sovereign rights" were somehow compromised when assistance was lent in the apprehension of their fellow Australians in Bali. The petitioners contend that the more prudent course of action would have been for the Australian police to refuse cooperation with their Indonesian counterparts, choosing to arrest the "Bali Nine" only after they returned to Australia.
Utter Balderdash
Frankly, these emotive rants are beneath the dignity of a the Australian people who have a proud tradition of a law-based democracy and suffer from the same mental aberation that argued convicted drug smuggler Shapelle Corby should have gone unpunished because of the aid provided to Indonesia following the 2004 tsunami disaster. Neither of those two dogs can hunt; never will. Take note. The petition criticizing the Australian police is being championed by failed National Minister and Parliamentarian Gary Hardgrave, himself the subject of an AFP investigation for defrauding the Commonwealth.
But, returning to the question at hand: Were Australian Federal Police derelict in their duty when they provided information that led to the "red handed" capture of the "Bali Nine" and their possible final date before an Indonesian firing squad? Many of us living in Bali, where the very fabric of our society is being undermined by narcotics, would take issue with the Australian petitioners. Our view is that abundant praise, rather than criticism, should be heaped upon the AFP officers who helped bring the Bali Nine to Indonesian justice.
While we have no desire to judge which of these two criminal group constitutes the more heinous class of criminals – the three 3 Bali bombers or the 6 members of the Bali Nine now sentenced to death - it is fair to say that all 9 are ruthless merchants of death; the former motivated by a tortured fanatic ideology and the latter by rapacious, mindless greed. While all death is tragic, the stark fact remains that the world will not long mourn the passing of any of these 9 men - be they bombers or drug dealers, when the legal process eventually places them at the business end of a firing squad.
With apologies to Mr. Hargrave and the Australian petitioners, we suspect the less vocal majority of law-respecting Australians are in agreement with us and quietly happy to be rid of the Bali Nine. To the Australian Federal Police and their Indonesian colleagues who successfully put the Bali Nine behind bars – we extend a too-seldom-spoken vote of heartfelt "thanks" for giving priority to the general publics' desire to enjoy a peaceful, drug-free existence.
(3/31/2007)
