By Michael Bachelard Indonesia Correspondent
The Indonesian Justice Minister's intervention in the Schapelle Corby release drama is a reminder of who's really in charge while Corby serves out her parole - and it is neither her family nor the hungry beast of the Australian media.
The tragi-comedy of Corby's tale is told almost exclusively by Australian journalists, filtered through her Australian family, to Australian readers. We laughed or rolled our eyes when she was swept - hatted and veiled - into an exclusive enclave with a paying TV crew. We watched in bemusement as a photo of her drinking beer with her brother was sold, apparently stolen, then withdrawn. It was just another debacle in a decade of them, a source of amusement or anger.
But in Indonesia, the outrage was slowly mounting. This was a woman released from prison early after the personal intervention of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on compassionate grounds, because she was mentally ill. That decision had already upset many because it reinforced the view that SBY is too close to Western countries and had bowed to Australian government lobbying, or special deals.
But now Corby, the object of his compassion (or his sweetheart deal), seemed to be laughing in his face. She was not staying where she said she would in her documents; in fact, she was at a villa where the nightly charge is more than the annual salary of a large portion of Indonesians. She was drinking beer - celebrating, partying - when she was supposed to be sick. And she was planning a paid interview whose mooted fee, when translated into Indonesian rupiahs, had so many zeros that most people could only associate it with the spoils of corruption. And though they live with corruption from their officials every day, Indonesians hate it with a passion.
The Indonesian Justice Minister has reminded us who's really in charge.Credit: Dimas Ardian
With the exception of the interview, all Corby's behaviour - staying in a resort and drinking beer - was perfectly legal and normal for the 800,000 Australians who visit Bali every year. But she was no ordinary Aussie, she was the Ganja Queen, and the spotlight was on her.
The Indonesian media became fixated on her behaviour. And, since the big media groups in Indonesia are intensely politically connected - Metro TV is owned by Surya Paloh, who has his own political party and presidential ambitions, and big newspaper group Jawa Pos is owned by Dahlan Iskan, another presidential aspirant - the furore quickly spilled into politics.
The Justice Department came under pressure and felt it had to act. The clause in regulations that minister Amir Syamsuddin and his deputy, Denny Indrayana, invoked against Corby - a prohibition on parolees causing (variously translated) political upset, restlessness or ''polemic'' - would not be out of place in a dictatorship. But it exists in Indonesia, and Dr Denny dusted it off to stop her interview with Mike Willesee.
It is hard to see that Corby or her family can push ahead with an interview now, paid or unpaid. Australians will need to wait to have their curiosity satisfied, and the Seven Network appears to have lost whatever money it has already spent.
What this means for Corby's living arrangements will no doubt be made clear, but she cannot stay where she is.
Until Thursday night, it was tempting for all of us caught up in this soap opera to believe we had created a kind of Aussie enclave around the Corby story. The reality, of course, is that she is still an inmate of an Indonesian prison and has merely been allowed, with conditions, to serve out her remaining sentence in the community.