Just not too recently I blogged extensively on Schapelle Corby, an Aussie girl arrested and convicted of drug smuggling into Bali. She has been sentenced to jail amidst a publicity circus where she was both a criminal and a victim.
The Indons sentenced her to prison for 20 years as a criminal while people including Australian media exploited her notoriety for publicity, TV ratings and possibly money. Corby was young, white, pretty and, as Derryn Hinch suggested, physically very well endowed. That combination was a TV producer's dream. Corby's attributes attracted both sympathisers and vultures.
Products sprang up overnight bearing her name though she wasn’t aware of those. Websites collected money for her “defence” without her knowing about it. The people surrounding her, claiming to be her white knights turned out to be black knaves instead. A second so-called white knight appeared, purportedly to champion her but was revealed (mind you, not unexpectedly) as someone who wanted the Aussie government to support his projects in Indonesia. Even the Aussie government was impelled by public opinion to overtly support her. Yes, Corby was a victim of every possible Aussie exploitation.
Now another young and pretty Aussie, Michelle Leslie, a model, faces drugs charges in the same part of Indonesia, Bali. She was caught with some ecstacy pills in her possession.
After the usual publicity and dramas with Indnesian lawyers the way Corby had experienced, she suddenly declared herself a Muslim. Just to make sure there’s no mistaking her religious affiliation, she wraps up her head with a sarong as a make-shift hijab.
Now, she’s covered from head to toe as she was led from her cell at Bali police headquarters. Her Australian solicitor, who is working with Leslie's team of five Indonesian lawyers, said Leslie was a Muslim and her hijab has been in response to the heavy media presence in Bali. But now, her spokesman added that the more correct reason is that she wanted to be comforted by God, stating "Michelle as a Muslim made a decision to wear a hijab to find solace with God, not for any other purpose." Of course not!
Mind you, prior to her arrest, when she was in front of a different set of media, the fashion kind, Leslie modelled underwear, swimwear and other clothes, and apparently appeared in little more than body paint at a modelling assignments last year. Hmmm, I wonder whether then she wore a hijab as well?
schapelle corby was never proven to have put those drugs in her bag and denied they were hers. She had no history of drug use and yet that stinking BASHIR BALI BOMBER GETS OFF WITH ONLY A FEW YEARS. The real villain is the so called Indonesian justice system and lack of any moral credibility. So shove your racist contrite wicked attitude mate. Your nasty petty little opinions as well !! Dont go hiding behind your race or your religion either - take responsibility for your twisted mentality.
ReplyDelete"prior to her arrest, when she was in front of a different set of media, the fashion kind, Leslie modelled underwear, swimwear and other clothes, and apparently appeared in little more than body paint at a modelling assignments last year. Hmmm, I wonder whether then she wore a hijab as well?"
ReplyDeleteTo be completely fair on Leslie though, in most countries women CAN simply be non-practicing Muslims, in which case they don't have to wear a hijab. Same as women and men can be lapsed Catholics or lapsed Anglicans.
Granted I'm being generous, but maybe, just maybe, Leslie decided to embrace religion after her arrest. A lot of people do, after all.
I've seen at least a few Muslim women interviewed on TV who have discarded hijabs. They show hair, wear make~up, look like "Westerners" yet still say they are Muslims.
Remember, they can't be beheaded for this in most countries.
I quite like what I've read in your blog about Schapelle Corby by the way. Unlike almost everybody else, you're able to see the wood from the trees. You can differentiate between Corby and the many idiots on both "sides" either condemning or supporting her.
For example, just because somebody named Miranda Divine wrote an utterly ludicrous article about Corby doesn't make her guilty.
Incidentally I think the "Derryn Hinch" theory is rubbish.
Her looks certainly helped attract attention, but veteran journalists say the case attracted attention for the same reason as the Azaria Chamberlain case: it was so strange. Nobody else had ever been caught smuggling Marijuana by air INTO Indonesia. It's always the other way around.
Secondly, the case was a mystery, a "Whodunnit?". Something for people to debate, wonder over and argue.
Moreover, Michelle Leslie is stunningly gorgeous, yet even before she "declared herself a Muslim" I didn't see or hear her get any sympathy. Everybody just called Leslie "stupid" and misogynists all over the world are still having a field day over her ~ and Corby too. "Yay!" goes the argument. "Pretty young women who always think they can get special treatment are now getting their comeuppance!"
(I hate this.)