editorial comment Maybe a better title would have been: "Unlucky Aussies wander into stupid and sadistic legal system". Boycott Bali!

ONE could be forgiven for thinking that Australian model Michelle Leslie was the only person arrested at Bali's GWK cultural park last Saturday.

She wasn't. Four others, all Indonesians, also were nabbed in the same anti-drugs raid. They had more drugs than the two ecstasy pills Leslie was alleged to have been carrying.

But not much news has appeared about them, either in the Australian or Indonesian media.

The officer in charge of the raids, Major Mardiaz Kusin, seemed almost miffed when the other four hardly raised a question at a press conference to discuss the operation. But the policeman knew what was coming.

In the days before Leslie's arrest, police had detained a man with more than 50,000 ephedrine pills and a businessman with a small amount of hashish. Both were Australian. Then came news that yet another Australian had been questioned by police about drug possession in Sumatra.


Already in jail were Gold Coast woman Schapelle Corby, sentenced to 20 years for marijuana possession, and the Bali Nine, awaiting trial on charges of heroin trafficking.

Local police anticipated the question: Are Australians, in their holiday backyard, being targeted by Indonesian police?

Is there some kind of campaign to get the Aussies, who for decades have regarded Bali as their party town, the fun-loving, free-wheeling joint where drugs and parties are everywhere if you so desire?

The short answer is no, for a multitude of reasons. One of them is this recent reported statement by the former head of Indonesia's National Narcotics Agency (BNN): "Our younger generation are being threatened with ruin."

He was referring to the country's spiralling drug problem with figures revealing that about 3.2 million Indonesians are drug users and 78 per cent of these are in their 20s.

At the time General Sutanto was the BNN head. He is now the country's new national police chief and he has ordered a nationwide crackdown, backed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY).

People such as Sutanto and SBY believe drugs have become the scourge of society, with figures showing that even high school children are using them in increasing numbers, and about 15,000 people die every year from drug abuse.

Recently, on International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, SBY sent a test message to millions of mobile phone account holders. Translated, it said: "Stop drug abuse and drug-related crimes right now. Let us preserve and build a healthy, smart and progressive nation."

All this despite Indonesia and its South-East Asian neighbours employing a rigid and unforgiving anti-drugs regime – with the death penalty the ultimate sanction.

There is a concerted effort to halt a problem authorities believe is threatening the fabric of society.

It has resulted in an increasing police presence and not just in Bali. Raids on trendy Jakarta night-spots, frequented by society's A-list, are common. During one recent round-up about 100 people were arrested.

Bali's drug squad chief Lt-Col Bambang Sugiarto makes no apologies for the aggressive campaign his officers are engaged in and says the fact Australians have found themselves behind bars as a result is nothing more than coincidence.

"We don't differentiate whether it is Indonesian citizens, Australian, Asian or European," he said. "We treat them all the same."

Lt-Col Sugiarto points out that Australians comprise the largest tourist group to Bali, after the Japanese, so if they are involved in drugs their chances of finding themselves on the harsh side of the law are correspondingly high.

But he is surprised that those Australians arrested recently have not learnt from the publicity surrounding the Corby case.

Tourists, residents and people of any classes are all treated the same way, he says, when it comes to drug law violationss of the drug laws.

Lt-Col Sugiarto says that under the old police chief, anti-drugs campaigns were an order but that under the new police chief, it is being even more strenuously pursued. That's the reason for increasing numbers of undercover cops posing as drug dealers, especially around the Kuta area, to lure unsuspecting purchasers into making a buy.

And the raids on dance parties, like the Vertigo Goes to Bali party last Friday night, where Leslie's alleged downfall began.

Lt-Col Sugiarto said the force had employed preventative measures – leaflets, stickers, signboards and posters pointing out the harsh penalties for drugs and the evils of the drug trade.

International tourists to Bali can be left in no doubt about the fate awaiting drug dealers. Before they get through Customs, the first sign hits them – "Death penalty for drug traffickers".

Another reason we are hearing more about Australians arrested in Indonesia relates to a slow cultural change in the police force, along with an increased media awareness of the intense interest in any arrest involving an Australian.

It has been no secret in the past that if you were an Indonesian policeman, the drug squad was definitely the place to aspire to – it was where the big bribes could be demanded and received.

There is no shortage of anecdotal evidence of drug squad officers with palatial homes and expensive cars.

There is also no shortage of anecdotal evidence of people getting caught with small amounts of drugs, simply paying a willing officer to make the case disappear into thin air, often before any arrest has taken place.

But these days, after SBY ordered a corruption crackdown and a clean-up of the police force and the judiciary, bribery is becoming more difficult. This, coupled with the intense media attention now focused on Bali, has made the old bribe harder to pull off.

Since the 2002 Bali bombing, local media have become intensely attuned to what is news in Australia – after all, it means a lot of money if they can sell some good TV footage or pictures to Australian outlets.

That escalated after Corby's arrest a year ago. The local media were holding gold if they had some good footage, selling it to Australian outlets, often for the equivalent of a few months' salary.

Thus every time an Australian is arrested here now, the media knows it's on to a good thing.

The news gets out quickly and it is always more difficult to make a case go away or to make evidence disappear with the help of cash when the media spotlight is there.

There's really only one solution.

Don't dare take, use or experiment with drugs if you are in Bali, or anywhere else in Indonesia.

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