That both women are good-looking helps my mild case of cynicism. Corby stares at us, doe-eyed and desperate, from behind prison bars.Minogue, who we're constantly told is the cutest woman alive, sends cheery messages from her sickbed. Both women rate big coverage, the whiff of long imprisonment, if not death, and disfigurement adding to their allure.
In Minogue's case, the thought of her losing one perfect bre-ast has been agonising. There could be no worse fate, surely, than to be disfigured at the height of your fame and beauty, and it's surely no accident that photographs of her lately have featured deep decolletage from which her bosoms artfully threaten to bounce. Is such delectable cleavage possible with prosthetic bre-asts? I doubt it.
Corby is more enigmatic. She insists she's innocent of smuggling cannabis into Bali, and the ease with which it was found in her luggage suggests stupidity or lunacy. That alone, along with her protestations of innocence, will have persuaded many of her innocence. Her attempt at smuggling, if that's what it was, makes no sense in a country so frank about its draconian laws. Corby may protest her innocence in heart-rending fashion, but she wouldn't be the first offender to turn on such a performance or the first to take mad risks.
If crime made sense, after calm and intelligent reflection, everyone would be doing it.
We know so little about this attractive woman, now 27, who's described as a student beautician, although her past marriage to a Japanese man, when she was 20. The marriage lasted only three months, before Corby returned to Australia from Japan, where they'd been living. I'd call it adventurous and unusual for a Queensland girl to marry a Japanese man, and considering the cultural differences, it was also a hell of a gamble.There are many websites devoted to Corby's innocence, and few calm reports on her plight. Her fan base says she's "a carefree girl next door who enjoys, fashion, music and surfing" who is "now wrongfully accused, incarcerated, liberty taken from her".
No mention is made of what looks bad for her: her attempt to stop Indonesian authorities from opening her bag. Four independent witnesses attest to this. Nor is there a convincing explanation for how she failed to notice the bag's extra weight after the cannabis was, by her account, placed by someone else.
The Indonesian justice system, however different from ours, should astound no-one. It applies to Indonesians, and I can't see why it should be different for foreigners there, even if they're good-looking and Caucasian. Why would Corby be special enough to get off scot- free when the evidence against her is strong and she can't provide proof of her innocence? An Indonesian woman of equal charm would be in the same predicament. And how bout the case of Australian Nguyen Tuong Van, a 24 year old awaiting execution in Changi Prison after being convicted of importing 400grams of heroin. Few would have heard of his case in Australia yet no-one could possible have missed the emotive, saturation coverage of Corby's plight.
How odd we are. We're thunder struck when we come up against nation states that mean what they say, however terrifying it is, and see no special reason to be nice to us. I wonder what ordinary Indonesians think about Corby, and why they should even give a damn.
