The fight against drugs<\/p>\n
The fatal shootout in which five foreign nationals met their
\nviolent deaths in a South Jakarta neighborhood last week once
\nagain highlights Indonesia's growing significance as both a
\nmarket and a link in the international narcotics trade. The five
\nforeigners -- two from Nigeria, one from Liberia, one from Togo
\nand one from the Ivory Coast, and all of them suspected members
\nof an international drug syndicate -- were killed in an evening
\npolice raid on a rented house in a neighborhood that had for some
\ntime been under surveillance for being suspected as a center for
\nthe group's clandestine operations.<\/p>\n
Only hours before the incident, police at Jakarta's Soekarno-
\nHatta International Airport had detained seven suspected local
\nIndonesian members of the syndicate as two of them were on the
\npoint of leaving Jakarta on a Cathay Pacific flight to London.
\nFifteen kilograms of cocaine and 1.6 kilograms of heroin were
\nseized in the airport operation.<\/p>\n
The results of last week's police operation against
\ninternational drug dealers in Jakarta were the biggest ever
\nscored so far in recent years. But while they may not have been
\nparticularly spectacular when compared to similar cases that have
\noccurred in some of the world's major drug trading centers, they
\nnevertheless accentuate the need for Indonesians to wake up to
\nthe danger of their country being quietly ensnared in the deadly
\nglobal web of the narcotics trade, with all the consequences
\nwhich that may bring.<\/p>\n
Accurate and reliable statistics on the drug trade and drug
\nabuse in Indonesia have, so far, been as good as nonexistent.
\nOfficial police figures in Jakarta, for example, show that 412
\n\"drug cases\", meaning, apparently, the arrest and trial of drug
\npushers and users, occurred in Jakarta during the first seven
\nmonths of 1999 -- a figure which even the police themselves do
\nnot believe. Only last month, Jakarta police spokesman Lt. Col.
\nZainuri Lubis conceded to the media that the figure was probably
\nmeaningless because \"there were hundreds of such cases that went
\nunrecorded during that period.\"<\/p>\n
Even so, even those highly approximate figures that the police
\nhas been able to compile show that the trend in drug trafficking
\nand drug abuse is rapidly rising in this country. In 1995,
\naccording to official statistics, 194 drug cases were handed by
\nthe Jakarta police to the prosecutor's office for processing. The
\nnext year, the figure had risen to 249, the following year to 605
\nand 432 last year. Statistics aside, media reports and complaints
\nby worried teachers and parents of pushers having begun to move
\ntheir operations to secondary schools, and in some cases even
\nelementary schools, are cause for considerable concern.<\/p>\n
What, then, should or can be done to fight this growing drug
\nmenace?<\/p>\n
Police spokesman Lt. Col. Zainuri said, \"We are doing our
\nbest. But what's the use of all our work when drug dealers can
\nget out of jail after no more than six months, whereas they are
\nactually guilty and are sentenced to years in prison.\" Some
\ndealers, according to Zainuri, are out after only three months in
\njail. \"And that's it. They begin their business all over again.
\nOur job is to catch the dealers, but what are the (other)
\ninstitutions doing?\"<\/p>\n
The law, at present, prescribes a prison sentence of up to 15
\nyears in prison or a fine of at least Rp 200 million (US$27,000).
\nObviously, sterner punishment for drug pushing is in order. Of
\nlate, a public debate has been going on over the advisability of
\nintroducing the death sentence for drug dealers -- a measure that
\nis already being applied in some other countries in this region.<\/p>\n
Many rights-conscious citizens in this country are certain to
\noppose such an extreme ruling. On the other hand, there are many
\nothers who regard such a measure as fitting in order to protect
\nthe large majority of innocent citizens. Whatever the outcome of
\nthis debate, it is time that serious thought is given to setting
\nup a legal and bureaucratic mechanism that is effective in
\nstemming this alarming trend.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/the-fight-against-drugs-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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