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Bali over time has had a bit of a rough trot being blemished as a Province of Indonesia prone to being a portal for drug smugglers trafficking.

Being one of Cartels/Traffickers main leap boards for distribution, Bali has been continuously dogged by other countries in receivership of these substances, with pressure to tighten their borders and squeeze the drug cartels with zero tolerance in the acceptance of substances being exported and imported via couriers in and out of their province.

Enough is enough as far as Bali is concerned; they are a tourism country that wishes to rebuild its reputation as a province on top of such activities within their borders and will not be bullied by smugglers or countries in relation to their process and choice of hardline laws to combat this problem.

Bali is a small island province only over 100mile from north to south and 175 miles from west to east with a population of 3.5 million people comprised mainly of ethnic Balinese.

Other ethnic groups Hindu, Muslims, Protestants, Roman Catholics, Baddhist with the pollution slit 50% rural 50% urban.

The main contributions to Bali’s economy are tourism and agricultural products such as coconut, clove, coffee, rubber, vanilla and fruits including forestry products such as cayuput, oil, rattan and incense.

The main types of trafficking over the years king-pin cartels have being pushing through Bali as an access point to other countries have been substances such as cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy, heroin the occasional ice/speed with a surprising amount of transit child sex industry and labour exploitation workers.

Bali introduced zero tolerance laws on drugs/narcotics trafficking, making Bali one of the most infamous and sever Province to own, sell, buy or smuggle quantities of drugs/narcotics in or out of it borders via travellers in transit with the introduction of a greeting billboard decorated with skull and crossbones and the slogan “penalty for drug trafficking is death”.

Under the laws travellers in or out of Bali are looking at a minimum of 20 years sentence for minor trafficking, up to death by firing squad if found to have a combined excess amount.

Examples of the types of trafficking going on in and out of Bali are:

1. Malaysian Men... Police estimate the street value of the smuggled drugs at Rp. 2 billion (US$200,000).

2. Cocaine with an estimated street value of $8.4 million in ... Bali drug king-pins death sentence.

3. Two Malaysians are staring at possible death sentences for smuggling drugs into Bali in exchange for a mere RM2,000 (S$824.79).

4. Iranian man, The drugs had a total street value of about Rp 4 billion ($420,000).

5. 2004 Corby smuggling 4.1 kilograms of cannabis leaf and heads into Bali's Denpasar Airport... an estimated $40,000 on the street in Australia - Bali 20 years jail 2005.

6. Bali nine 8kg kilogram of heroin with potential street value of $4million Aus.

Couriers most commonly employed from clubs or public venues with the offer of a free trip all expenses paid and 5000 to 10,000 dollars spending (depending on amount), in exchange for importing substances at least part of the way to the narcotics final destination.

The Bali Nine is the name given to a group of nine people arrested on 17 April 2005, in Denpasar on the island of Bali, Indonesia, in a plan to smuggle 8.3 kg (18 lb) of heroin valued at approximately AUD 4 million from Indonesia to Australia.

Andrew Chan, Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Renae Lawrence, Tach Duc Thanh Nguyen, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush, Martin Stephens and Myuran Sukumaran, all aged between 18 and 28 at the time of their arrests.

The Parents of defendants Scott Rush and Renae Lawrence criticise AFP for not arresting their children prior to their entry into Bali, stating that international customs should allow smugglers such as these to reach their destinations with the hope they don’t lose the goods along the way, just so that they don’t fall prey to the laws and conditions of the lands in which they enter.

What crap! If you enter a country as a local or on a visa as a traveller from any other country apone entry to the country you have accepted the conditions of entry and willing to abide by the laws and cultures of that land for the duration of your stay.

Heroin/Smack/Hammer/Hose is the most dangerous drug known to man; Heroin will not just destroy a person, but will suck the life literally from a person’s body bit by bit until they are unrecognizable. It will change their personality to the opposite in the ways of a negative; self absorbed; care-free of others. They will do nothing other than spend their time thinking about and finding ways to produce money for their next hit. These users will end up near death, dead or in jail through the course of this process. This drug of all drugs works the fastest and is the easiest to become addicted to than any other drug.

As for some of the Bali nine only getting sentences is because they had supplied information to police that may help prevent further distribution of this drug internationally, in any country a criminal that supplies information that is useful is seen as helping the public and credited with a lighter judgements, as apprehension of kingpins of drug smuggling takes precedence.

Andrew Chan & Myuran Sukumaran did not get a lighter sentence because they are seen to be main players of the group, including preparation and organisation of the group for smuggling illegal substances that did not supply any relevant information at time of questioning on how they come in possession.

Drug trafficking not only is hurting adults but children also who are recruited for begging and dealing of substances. These children are more often than not influence to use and become addicted to these substances then incurraged to smuggle them self’s becoming traffickers in exchange for living costs and addiction supply.

Conclusion: My conclusion to this situation even though they are of adult age, that can make their own decisions and pay the consequences of the decisions made and they were aware of the consequences of entry with trafficking by the laws of that land, that death may not be a fair sentence for a group influenced into trafficking illegal drugs.

Even thought Bali does have the right as a province to make a firm stand and let the world know that they will not back down and that if you are arrested you will be made an example of their zero tolerance policy, Bali may still have a way of providing that point without a firing squad.

That point in this regard would be

1. Whip Lashings with a full length Whip nine times across the back deep as a reminder of the pain and misery that people go through being addicted to these drugs and how close they came to death.

2. Than deported back to their home country on the condition they serve a sentence equllivant to the amount of substance under a supreme court without early release.

This may be hard and the pain not humane, but under the circumstances it’s a fitting choice of alternative to death by a firing squad for the street value and respecting countries laws.

As per my suggestion, I think that if it was televised front and back worldwide with slogans Above and below informing people that "if you do such things this may be you" ect or "this could be the least to expect if you get arrested" may be the impact of realised television of the point may help people become deterred about going through with it.

Regards

Brett J Hutton
Strykers Lounge Aus