Ford Denpasar

[Ahmend Studioz]

Butwhat the local enthusiast community lacks in size it makes up for in passion, so when an event happens I do my best to get along and catch a glimpse of the car culture unique to this tropical Indonesian island.

The Honda Brio, meanwhile, is an affordable car to buy and modify, which makes them very popular in Bali. The blue car has been turbocharged and features numerous chassis and suspension upgrades, while the yellow Brio remains naturally aspirated, but with a later-model facelift, carbon fibre bits, a roll cage and coilovers.

I had a fun time at the Nyore Chill-Noon Drive. There was a wider variety of cars than I expected, and everyone was happy to be out together on a Saturday afternoon with fellow enthusiasts. Hopefully we can do it again soon.

First, Man took Wolf and made Dog. And Man said, "I am happy with this friend I have made."

But in time, Man sensed he was missing something. So Man took Metal and Fire and made Car.

And Man again said, "I am happy with this friend I have made."

My wife and I visited Bali twice. First time in 2004 a week before the Asian Tsunami hit. The second time was in 2010 while I was assigned to work in Jakarta. Between those two years I noticed an increase in traffic. Can't imagine what it is like now. There weren't many slammed and modified cars back then and to see what you feature in this article is mind boggling. What a change. Indonesian car culture amazes me.

Thanks for the photos. Recall, when my son organised Rising Sunday, enthusiasts car owners meet in Perth Western Australia, police blocked the exists and placed work orders on cars as they left. Hence why there is no longer any community to speak of in Perth. Great to see community can exist somewhere hey!

I was there and remember it well. I had to wait until the police had too many cars to handle before sneaking off. The car scene in Bali is great, some don't have much but they have such passion for their cars. And there is no judgement either on what cars people own, which also can't be said in Australia.

The Bali Nine were a group of nine Australians convicted for attempting to smuggle 8.3 kg (18 lb) of heroin out of Indonesia in April 2005. The heroin was valued at around A$4 million and was bound for Australia.[2] Ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were sentenced to death and executed on 29 April 2015.[3] Six other members, Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush and Martin Stephens, were sentenced to life imprisonment and another, Renae Lawrence, to a 20-year sentence[4] but was released after the sentence was commuted in November 2018. The Indonesian authorities reported on 5 June 2018 that Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen had died of stomach cancer.[5]

Australian police were unclear how the two groups from Sydney and Brisbane were linked, but did establish the movements of members of the group before their departure for Indonesia. Several of the Bali Nine were employed by Eurest Australia, a multinational catering company with more than 9,000 employees. Norman, Lawrence, Stephens and Chan, the latter a supervisor with the company, all worked for Eurest, which provided hospitality services to the Sydney Cricket Ground, where the group was employed.[6] Rush and Czugaj alleged they were recruited by Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, their co-defendant and the alleged financier of the smuggling plan, while socialising at a karaoke bar in Brisbane.[7]

Evidence was heard that Rush had met Nguyen six months earlier while fishing. He then travelled to Sydney with Nguyen to attend a 21st birthday party where he was introduced to Sukumaran, who called himself "Mark". It was alleged Nguyen offered them free trips to Bali. Several days later Rush and friend Czugaj returned to Sydney, where arrangements were made for them to travel to Indonesia. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) concluded that Sukumaran, Chan, Lawrence and Norman were part of a larger syndicate that successfully imported a commercial quantity of heroin into Australia from Indonesia on 23 October 2004. Other members of the syndicate were arrested in 14 AFP raids in Sydney and Brisbane on the same day in early May 2005.[8]

Lawrence and Stephens arrived in Indonesia on 6 April 2005, followed by Rush and Czugaj, old school friends from Brisbane, who arrived two days later. The group was introduced at a hotel where Chan and Sukumaran were staying, having arrived in Bali earlier.[9]

Chan and Sukumaran handed out SIM cards to stay in contact. During their stay, police noted the group would spend a large amount of time in their hotel rooms, although Rush and Czugaj did make the most of their time in Bali and went shopping, eating, drinking and playing water sports. The group met again on 16 April for what police allege was a final briefing, before meeting for their final time at the airport before their 17 April arrest. After receiving information from the AFP about the group, including the names, passport numbers and information relating to their links to possible illegal drug trade, Indonesian police placed the group under constant surveillance for a week before their arrest.[1]

The group was arrested on 17 April. Between them, they were in possession of more than 8.3 kilograms (18 lb) of heroin in plastic bags. On the same evening, Chan was removed from an Australian Airlines flight about to depart Ngurah Rai Airport for Australia. Chan had several mobile phones in his possession, but was carrying no drugs when arrested. He was believed to be the person responsible for collecting the heroin from the couriers upon their arrival in Australia.[2]

Indonesian police believe a 22-year-old Thai woman, Cherry Likit Bannakorn, supplied Chan with the heroin. She was believed to have left Bali on 18 April 2005, a day after the nine Australians were arrested, and was briefly detained at the Thai-Malaysian border, but released as the paperwork needed for her to be extradited to Indonesia was not available.[10]

Head of the surveillance team I Nyoman Gatra later testified in court during trials for the accused that police were initially unaware Sukumaran was part of the group, because original information obtained from the AFP did not mention him by name. Indonesian police assumed Sukumaran was Chan's bodyguard as he was seen to accompany Chan in Bali.[3]

On 27 April 2005, Colonel Bambang Sugiarto, head of the Bali police drug squad, said police would seek to have all nine charged with offenses which carry the death penalty.[12] He revealed that several of the nine had previously visited Bali using false passports, suggesting that they had acted as drug couriers before. Indonesian police released video evidence showing heroin being removed from the bodies of the four arrested at the airport. Indonesian police initially maintained that Chan was the "mastermind" of the importation plan.[13]

Australian police said that they believed that an Australian drug syndicate was behind the plan. It was soon decided that Myuran Sukumaran, not Chan, was the real leader of the smuggling plot.[14] Defence lawyers conceded that the four arrested at the airport were acting as drug couriers, but said they did it for the money to help their low-income families and because they were threatened with physical harm if they did not comply. They also said they did not know what they were transporting and did not know that drug trafficking in Indonesia carried the death penalty.[15]

The parents of Rush and Lawrence criticised the AFP for allowing the Indonesian police to arrest the nine rather than allowing them to fly to Australia and arresting them in Sydney upon their return. On 24 April 2005, AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty said the AFP would hand over all evidence it had obtained against the Bali Nine:[16].mw-parser-output .templatequoteoverflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 32px.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequoteciteline-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0

"The policy is that we will not give evidence that will, or information that will, directly cause or result in somebody receiving the death penalty, but the reality is in this case, it would appear, on the allegation, that these people have been caught red-handed with heroin in Indonesia."

"As far as I'm concerned, and excuse the expression, [Keelty] is an arsehole. These kids were forced into this ... they should have been either arrested at the airport here or followed to get the big guys. I don't know how they can sleep at night ... even if [the Bali Nine] were guilty of doing it willingly, it still doesn't deserve the death penalty."

"Even with the aid of hindsight, should the same set of circumstances present themselves again with another syndicate or other people, we would do exactly the same thing ... there have also been a large number of young lives on the other side of the ledger that have been saved as a result of the AFP's operations over many years."

"We would never have given any assurance, because there was no lawful reason to prevent him from travelling. My sympathy is with Lee Rush because somebody has misled him. Whoever gave Lee Rush the assurance that his son would be prevented from travelling acted dishonourably. There is no way anyone in the AFP would have provided that assurance because there was simply no power to detain him. He was not wanted on warrants, there were no conditions of his bail that prevented him from travelling overseas."

"What we have are serious allegations as to criminal activity which allegedly occurred on Indonesian soil and the Indonesian police acted accordingly. We would expect the same of Australian police if the situation was reversed."

"We will not provide co-operation in relation to criminal matters unless there is an assurance that a death penalty will not be sought. If there was further information that had to be obtained from here through the Australian Federal Police, we would seek an assurance that Indonesia would not be wanting a death penalty in each of those cases."

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