Why Bali Nine’s ‘black sheep’ Martin Stephens may REFUSE to return to Australia: ‘I’m better off here’

As the final agreement of the Bali Nine transfer edges closer to completion, one notorious member of the drug smuggling syndicate won’t let himself celebrate the bittersweet news.

Resigned to dying behind bars, Martin Stephens, 48, has spent nearly 20 years creating an unconventional life for himself and is now a husband and stepfather.  

But the former Wollongong bar tender is now facing the possibility of being locked up in an Australian jail cell, something he knows won’t allow him the perks he currently enjoys at Lowokwaru jail in Malang, East Java.

With regular visits from his wife Christine Puspayanti and his stepdaughter Laura, Stephens previously said that he would ‘reject’ a prisoner exchange. 

‘I’m much freer here than I would be in an Australian jail, though logically it would be better for my parents,’ Stephens said in his last interview in 2020. 

‘I teach English and play the seruling (traditional bamboo flute) but I haven’t learned Indonesian. I want to keep my Australian identity and avoid getting involved in faction fighting,’ he told Indonesia Expat. 

Rumours have always been rife that Stephens, along with fellow Bali Nine member Tan Nguyen, were moved to the remote town of Malang, nine hours from Bali, because of behavioural issues at Kerobokan jail. 

But Stephens insists he requested the transfer in the hope of moving closer to his wife and to distance himself from the other members of the drug smuggling gang. 

Stephens worried he won’t get the same freedoms in an Australian jail

Stephens claims he is the ‘black sheep’ of the Bali Nine and requested a prison transfer to distance himself

‘I asked to be moved to be closer to my wife and apart from the others. I don’t want to know them. I wasn’t in their syndicate which made earlier drug runs. I’ve always been known as the Bali Nine “black sheep”.’

In 2005, the same year he was caught smuggling heroin out of the resort island, Stephens met Puspayanti when she visited Kerobokan jail with a friend.

The pair fell in love, eventually tying the knot behind bars in April 2011 in front of 100 guests that included both their families and the eight other Bali Nine members Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran, Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush and Renae Lawrence.   

The jail’s governor Siswanto granted a post-wedding celebartion and a conjugal visit on the same night in a specially prepared room.  

Of the other Bali Nine members arrested in the original bust, ringleaders Chan and Sukumaran were executed by firing squad in April of 2015. Stephen’s former cellmate Nguyen died from cancer in 2018, while Lawrence was released that year after her life sentence was reduced to 20 years on appeal.

Stephens wants to look after his mum Michele Stephens who has been a constant support throughout his incarceration 

Stephens was relocated to an East Java jail with fellow inmate Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen

Pictured Top L-R: Myuran Sukumaran, Scott Rush, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, Renae Lawrence, and Bottom: Si Yi Chen, Matthew Norman, Michael Czugaj, Martin Stephen and Andrew Chan

How the inmates will be returned, and whether or not they will have to serve the remainder of their time in Australia, remains unclear. 

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke jetting off to Jakata next week to negotiate the final details. 

If they are released on Australian soil then Stephens says he would dedicate his life to helping others.

‘My wife and daughter are struggling. My parents in Australia are doing it hard because of me. I want to care for them. Why should they keep paying for my first fault? What’s served by keeping me behind bars? I want to be a good citizen and contribute.’