Many people may wonder why or even if I actually genuinely have serious problems with unlawful / illegal acts against me in Bali. Surely the British Government would protect me, their citizen? This will hopefully set things straight.
Mark Wilson is the British Consul and pub owner (the Cat & Fiddle, Sanur) in Bali, and I say a slanderous big mouth. This blog is partly about naming people I would like to file criminal complaints against in Bali, and Mark Wilson is one such person. I say and would do this partly, I admit, as he represents British foreign policy (or agenda more like). So this blog page is also to have a go at Britain's foreign policy and the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office that does less for their citizens abroad then almost any other country, with the notable exception of the Australian Government which even goes so far as to inform on their own citizens to the Balinese police so they face drug charges and the death penalty in Indonesia, rather than prosecution and jail at home (vis- à-vis the "Bali Nine").
Why would I file a criminal complaint against the British Consul, Mark Wilson? The truth is I can not file a complaint against him as the British Consul, as he enjoys diplomatic immunity during the moments he acts as consul (and only during that time). I can and will I hope file a criminal defamation complaint against him as owner and barman of the Cat & Fiddle Pub in Sanur one day. Why? Because, as the regular host to one Jack Daniels, I took great exception to a report from a third party that Mark Wilson had been describing me as a "nutter" to a number of his clients. Oh sure, certain people will make great capital from this revelation, but it is not funny.
First of all, one of the people Mark Wilson opened his fat trap to in this fashion did not describe Mr. Wilson as the barman and owner of the Cat & Fiddle, but as the British Consul. However, when I complained to the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office about this act they claimed Mark Wilson had not made the statement as British Consul of course. So why does bar tender Mark Wilson spout off that I am a nutter? It transpires he is repeating his customer Jack Daniels' line that I am the owner / operator of Bali BS and Fugly Bali without proof, and that somehow standing up for my legal rights, refusing to pay bent (corrupt) cops some money to leave me alone somehow makes me a "nutter". As I have never been medically certified or even examined for mental problems, as he has no proof I am the owner / operator of Bali BS and Fugly Bali (as there can be no evidence against me), what I am told in writing Mark Wilson said is slanderous in both the civil and criminal sense.
I would not normally mind except to retort Wilson is a big mouthed, perhaps drunken bar keep of a tiny pub on a tiny island. But it does not help matters when his words are taken as those of the British Consul and that consequently the likes of hooch customer Jack Daniels can say to his Balinese police "friends" who are out to afflict my human rights as a result of his corruption bungs (bribes); "Look, even the British Consul is against Mark Austin".
I met Mark Wilson in Bali in 2o02 when I had problems with the police conducting an unlawful investigation against me involving the illegal seizure of my British passport, and I did not think much of Wilson then. Mark Wilson describe my email, the one that started all of this (see: email) as "a little bit harsh (on the police)" because it mentioned some police officers were corrupt. My God Wilson wake up; there are enough human rights groups out there stating most if not all the Indonesian police are corrupt and commit serious human rights violations (rape, shootings, murder, torture, etc.), yet you feel my email was a little harsh on your "friends" in Brown uniforms!
Ah yes, but then isn't that closer to the truth about Mark Wilson and why he says and acts the way he has over me? For not only did this third party let me know what Wilson had said about me, but he also claimed Mark Wilson admitted being a victim of Balinese police corruption and involved in a little bit of the same himself! Not very hard to believe of course with confirmation from the Jakarta Post, in relation to the imported booze shortage in Bali over Christmas 2008, that a massive 3/4 of the imported booze on sale in Indonesia comes in illegally, without paying duty, with counterfeit duty stickers. So how much of Mark Wilson's booze is illegal hooch? And isn't that just the perfect material and likely reason Wilson is alleged to have paid a few coerced police bungs himself? So my not paying corruption bungs is the reason I am a nutter is it Mr. Wilson?
The prospect of the British Consul being a police corruption victim is hardly good news for Brits who might one day need his help. However, when I put the specter of their British Consul being both a defamer and victim of corruption himself to the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office, their response was;
"With regard to your e-mails of 30 March and 2 April, in which you refer to remarks allegedly made by the 'British Consul to Bali'. We take such allegations seriously and have spoken to Mark Wilson, our Honorary Consul in Bali, about them. We do not accept there has been any impropriety on behalf of Mr Wilson, and we are assured that any matters relating to your case have been kept strictly between consular officials. It is also unclear what you mean, in your e-mail of 30 March, by describing Mr Wilson as the 'victim of police corruption'. However, this is a matter for Mr Wilson, and given that he has not reported any such incident to us, it is a matter on which we are not free to comment further."
If you read it carefully, you will no doubt see the careful wording describing Mark Wilson on the one hand in his official capacity as Honorary Consul, and almost seamlessly then as pub owner on the other hand. Notice too the lack of a categorical denial that Mark Wilson said the things others claim he has and / or been the victim of police corruption himself (as a pub owner of course your majesty) in Bali!
Finally, I have to admit defeat for now with the British FCO in that I was trying to force them to intervene in my case with the Balinese police, which is why I took such offense to the reported words of Mark Wilson. After the FCO told me they could not intervene in the domestic judicial process of a foreign country (Indonesia) while openly interfering in the domestic judicial process of some less economically and strategically important countries (vis- à-vis Gillian Gibbons / Sudan - remember, the Sudanese Authorities were not acting unlawfully against Ms. Gibbons), I managed to convince two British Members of Parliament (one the Liberal-Democrat Shadow Foreign Affairs Spokesman, the other a member of Old Labour) to file a complaint with the British Parliamentary Ombudsman against the FCO's decision not to intervene. The complaint has now been provisionally denied on a technicality (of course). Apparently, as it stands, British citizens living outside the UK are not entitled to the same legal rights and with that the support of the FCO and Parliamentary Ombudsman as those resident in the UK! This apparently is changing and as an expatriate I will one day be eligible for the same rights from the British Government as UK residents; yippee!
It is ludicrous the FCO say they can not intervene with the Indonesian police solely because they are threatening me with unlawful and even illegal acts, that I have to travel to Indonesia and have the police actually commit those acts against me before the FCO can do anything for me! No thanks guys! And anyway, I have recently acquired another country's citizenship and will qualify for one other in a year's time, so I will no longer need the FCO's "help" thanks. I find it totally amazing just how much more protection other EU member states afford their citizens overseas than Britain does and it is a sick joke I am entitled to greater human rights protection as a British citizen from Spain and Portugal (while resident in those countries) then I am from the UK.
Of course selective British FCO help for their citizens depending on which country they are in or being afflicted by has nothing to do with British Foreign Policy, has it?! The fact the British Government now provides soft loans directly to elements of the Indonesian police, allowed under the so called "War on Terror" does not show them to be duplicitous supporters of human rights abuse at all right? The private pension scheme and employment reliance on major British Corporations through their offshore subsidiaries (exempt from EU law of course your honour) to make billions of reportedly dishonest dollars from human rights abusing "partners" such as Indonesia, a country that does not like to be criticized on pain of less preferred contract award status in the future; this has nothing to do with one rule for the Sudan, one for Indonesia correct?
God bless the EU
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