Corbys fail to sway minister on interview

UPDATE: Mercedes Corby has visited Jakarta to seek ministerial permission for her sister to do a lucrative TV interview, and has been officially rejected.

Indonesian justice officials say the interview - about the story of Schapelle Corby's nine-year imprisonment in Bali for drug-smuggling charges she has always denied - will likely end her parole, which took effect when she left Kerobokan jail last week amid chaotic scenes.

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Mercedes and husband Wayan Widyartha have been waging a campaign to get the green light for Corby's interview.

This week, the couple apparently visited Jakarta, where they visited the corrections directorate-general but didn't get the answer they were looking for.

They then tried to meet Justice Minister Amir Syamsuddin, who granted Corby's parole, but were only able to leave a letter for him.

Mr Syamsuddin told reporters on Friday the advice to Corby couldn't be clearer.

"What? What's with Corby? It's clear what the corrections board in Bali has answered to their letter, and that's what's correct. The corrections board has rejected it," he said.

"It's much better that she realises that her status remains as a prisoner while she's enjoying parole."

Mercedes' visit to Jakarta comes after Bali parole board boss Ketut Artha told AAP he had also received a visit from Wayan, and told him in no uncertain terms the TV deal was "impossible".

He says Wayan then said he would go higher.

The parole boss told AAP he was frustrated by the situation, feeling his job was on the line.

Since her release, Corby has been locked down in a luxury Bali villa.

THE CORBYS’ LETTER TO INDONESIAN AUTHORITIES

We write this letter to respond to a meeting with parole officers in Bali on Friday, February 14, 2014 regarding your response to an Australian TV interview request with Schapelle Corby.

We understand your response and we hope that we can convince you that we don’t intend to disrespect the Indonesian government or the Law and Human Rights Ministry, but we feel that an interview is proper and needed.

Based on what you’ve seen, lots of media are interested to cover Schapelle and this will not stop until an interview has been conducted. We have a journalist that we can trust and when Schapelle is ready to talk, we want him/her to do the interview. We don’t trust other media because they often turn the facts around and lie. Our selected journalist will be fully aware the restrictions of Schapelle’s parole conditions and fully respect the Indonesian government.

We hope that you understand that Schapelle has suffered lots of pain and trauma which was very bad from the media. Even since she’s been released, they climbed walls and roofs to get the pictures in hiding, pretending to be a member of the family and camping in front of the fence.

But this interview is not only for Schapelle’s needs, all members of the family have been followed and chased - a week prior to Schapelle release, we’ve been chased by media by motorbike and so have three of our children.

There’s nothing Schapelle wants more than to regain her life back, but it won’t happen until an interview is conducted. The media wants to hear Schapelle’s voice and she will be haunted until they get it. But she’s still not fully healthy mentally and we trust to have an interview one on one with a journalist we trust and feel comfortable with ... is the only way to do this.

If you’re willing to meet that journalist doing that interview, that can be done.

The interview we’re going to have is very controlled and will not be broadcasted live and we will invite a corrections board officer to be present in that interview.

If Schapelle does not talk in the near future, then members of our family will be forced to talk for Schapelle. And very often, it happens to our family members in Australia and all will not happen in a controlled environment - we prefer Schapelle to talk so that it all under control.

Once again we ensure you that this interview is not something negative about Indonesia.

Schapelle has not been paid for this interview and media reports regarding that payment are totally wrong.

Below are general things we want to convey in that interview:
Family support
Consciousness on mental health
Future plan
Relationship with the family and reapproaching the family since her release
How she survived in jail
Her feeling when she lost her freedom
Life prior to her detention in 2004
Losing father
What happened in the airport in Australia the day of her departure
Thanking all of her supporters

Regards,
Wayan Widyartha
Mercedes Corby

*This letter has been translated from Indonesian and edited for length.