The Bali Boycott

I'm reading an article about how people are planning to boycott Bali.

No, the boycott won't bring anyone back from the dead. But it does bring me satisfaction to imagine Indonesia feeling some level of hurt from the boycott.

I'm impressed with the type of actions people are taking. The National Schoolies Site will no longer do Bali bookings. They do have Bali listed under their overseas options, but then there's nothing there to click on. No accommodations listed.

There's a travel agent in Dulwich Hill who has joined the boycott. The article says that Marie Tadros  took the Bali sign down from her storefront and is no longer selling holidays there. Though her website hasn't been updated yet in regards to this. It still has sections about Bali.

Who knows how strong the boycott will be and how long it will last. The article talks about how, after the original arrests of the Bali 9, tourism was reduced. But then the numbers crept up again.

I can't say I'm very good at boycotts. Not that I often join them. But once I do, my passion and motivation usually fade. Unfortunately.

It's easy for me to support the Bali boycott, because I've never had any desire to go there.

Then again, the main reason I've never had any desire to go there is it scared me. I worried someone would sneak drugs into my bag and, I'd end up spending the rest of my life in an Indonesian prison.

But I will try to have sympathy for people, still wanting to go to Bali, by imagining how I'd feel if there was a massive Disney World boycott. That's kind of our family's Bali. Oh, and I mean a boycott that I'd agree with. If anti-gay people were boycotting Disney World, I'd want to go MORE often.

If Australians make Bali plans in the next few months, there could be various reasons.

Maybe they think executing people in the drug trade is a good thing.

They might be very apolitical. They don't pay attention to the news. They just want to have fun at an inexpensive destination.

They might be against the executions, but they just love Bali so much. They can't let it go. They might justify these feelings by saying they don't want to hurt the innocent Indonesians in the tourist trade.

The article says some people are taking this stance; not necessarily as an excuse to keep visiting Bali. That might just be their political viewpoint.

I can see where they're coming from. Though I definitely don't think people should feel regret or guilt for boycotting Bali. If they don't give their money to the people in the Bali, they'll give it to people in other places. Think of all the people in the Australian tourist trade who could end up getting more business.

Folks who are strongly against all forms of the death penalty probably wouldn't want to visit my country, because we do put people to death sometimes. But if there are folks who are only against some forms of the death penalty, Hawaii might be a decent alternative to Bali. Though I think it's more expensive, probably.

Wait. Never mind. It seems the death penalty is a state-by-state thing. Hawaii hasn't had the death penalty since 1957.

And yikes...just did more research. Lord Wiki says that, in the United States, heavy drug trafficking is listed as a crime that's punishable by death. I'm not sure though if it's ever been used. Hopefully not.

Now I'm looking at Lord Wiki's list of Americans on death row.  I don't see any drug convictions. Though Lord Wiki hasn't listed crimes for everyone. From what I see, though, most are murderers.

Anyway....

This post was supposed to be about Bali. Then I got lost in tangents.

The thing I had on my mind when I started this post was airlines. I was thinking about the people who already have flights to Bali.  I would feel their pain in trying to decide whether to cancel or not. Who would want to lose their holiday money like that?  It would be nice if the Australian airlines took a stand against the execution by offering refunds or alternate flights.  I'd be very impressed if they actually cancelled their flights to Bali. But that's probably asking for a lot.