***Apakah kehilangan turis Aussie, patut ditangis orang Bali ? Tentu tidak.
***Bali telah lalaikan promosi di dalam negeri, sehingga orang Indonesia memilih ke Singapura, Kuala Lumpur, bukan Bali yang jauh lebih cantik. ***Bali perlu pertimbangkan membuka kasino ala Las Vegas, untuk menghidupkan turisme... Drugs lure young Australians to Bali Posted :Wednesday, February 15, 2006 SYDNEY: Young Australians have been making the pilgrimage to the Indonesian resort island of Bali for decades, lured by the cheap cost of living, tropical sun and beaches and exotic Asian culture. Cheap drugs, especially marijuana, have been another lure since the Bali hippie/surfer trail first opened in the 1970s. Early Australian surf movies featured naked hippies on Kuta Beach smoking marijuana as a reflection of Bali's free spirit. Today, two Australians sit in a Bali jail sentenced to death by firing squad for trying to smuggle 8.2kg of heroin from Bali to Australia in 2005. Another seven have been sentenced to life in a Bali jail. They are not hardened criminals. Most are only a few years out of high school - eight are in their 20s and one is 19 - from middle class Australia. With large signs at Bali's airport warning visitors that drug trafficking carries the death penalty, why did the "Bali Nine" as they are called in Australia get involved in drug smuggling? The Australian National Council on Drugs said many young Australians now see Bali as an extension of Australia, just another place to party, drink beer, have sex and take drugs. The Council's executive officer Gino Vumbaca believes a dangerous cocktail of ignorance, naivete, greed and a feeling of youthful invincibility led the "Bali Nine" to their fate. "Unfortunately for most young people, they see themselves as invincible ... so they take risks that most adults wouldn't," Vumbaca said. "They are on holidays. They are young. They are partying. People see an opportunity to make money by selling drugs - people don't equate that with the severe penalties." Andrew Chan, 22, and Myuran Sukumaran, 24, are the two ringleaders and have been sentenced to death. Chan was accused by Indonesian police of being the "Godfather" who planned and financed the operation. He had no drugs on him when arrested awaiting for takeoff from Denpasar. Sukumaran, a stocky martial arts expert, was Chan's enforcer. The Australian drug council says the idea of easy money and the status of wealth is a major attraction of the drug world. Four of the Australians were "mules" - hired to tape the heroin to their bodies - in return for a few thousand dollars and a free trip to an Asian island paradise. Internationally, drug "mules" are usually recruited from poor developing nations and see drugs as a way out of poverty, said the Australian drug council. Drug mules Scott Rush, 20, and his school friend Michael Czugaj, 20, have been sentenced to life in jail. Both said they did not know they were travelling to Bali to smuggle heroin. The only woman among the "Bali Nine" is Renae Lawrence - a 28-year-old from Australia's industrial city of Newcastle, north of Sydney. She worked with Chan in a Sydney catering firm and was facing car-theft charges in Australia, according to Australian media. The youngest, Matthew Norman, 19, and Si Yi Chen, 20, were arrested in a Bali hotel, where police found a small quantity of heroin and suitcases. FOR MORE AUSTRALASIA NEWS CLICK HERE http://www.keralanext.com/news/?id=555800 Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
