Schapelle Corby - it's not a question of guilt

A number of surveys have shown that most people in Australia (up to 95%) think that
Schapelle Corby is not guilty of trying to smuggle a plastic bag full of marijuana into Bali (Indonesia). All sorts of theories and alleged evidence are offered frantically to demonstrate this belief. I think, however, that the intense interest and sympathy for Schapelle Corby has been aroused not by the question of guilt, but fundamentally by the question of punishment.

Most Australians think and feel that the Indonesian legal system's punishment for possession of a plastic bag of marijuana is monstrous, insane and barbaric.

How could a healthily functioning justice system apply execution by firing squad or life in prison without reprieve for something so minor?

However unpalatable and objectionable it is to say, the answer is that it is embedded in Islamic culture - I mean the inclination to apply brutal and violent solutions to social and political problems.

Australians can not fathom how a bunch of young Islamic fanatics can demonstrate for Schapelle Corby's execution outside the Bali court house. They cannot understand the implicit barbarity in holding up a placard depicting a crudely drawn axe with drops of blood dripping from it.