18,500 children take drugs
18,500 children take drugs
JAKARTA: At least 18,500 schoolchildren are believed to use
drugs in Indonesia, a report said on Thursday quoting the head of
the National Narcotics Agency, Togar Sianipar.
"From that number, primary school students account for about
1,000, junior high school students around 7,500 and senior high
school students around 10,000," Sianipar was quoted by Antara as
saying on Wednesday.
Togar did not give the source of the statistics but said some
users were as young as seven.
He also acknowledged that law enforcement personnel were
acting as drug dealers or distributors.
Togar, who could not be reached for comment, said his agency
was planning to form branches at provincial and district levels
across the country, calling for a concerted attack against
narcotics and "high discipline" from all circles, especially law
enforcement officials.
Indonesia in the early 1980s was a mere stepping stone for
people engaged in the international narcotics trade. It has now
become a market in its own right.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri has expressed alarm at the
trend.
Sixteen people are on death row for drug trafficking -- 11
foreigners, four Indonesians and a Dutch citizen of Chinese-
Indonesian origin. --AFP
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KHN wants death sentence abolished
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KHN wants death sentence abolished
JAKARTA: The National Law Commission (KHN) called on Thursday
for the abolition of the death sentence, saying all legal
instruments that endorse the death penalty should be reviewed.
A number of people on death row for murder or drug trafficking
were recently refused presidential pardons.
Those who support the death penalty do so because they believe
it will lower the crime rate in the country, while those who
oppose it say it is against basic human rights and humanity as
stipulated in the amended Constitution, particularly Article 28
which states that all men have the right to live and to make
living.
Several laws still regulate the death penalty, such as Law
No.7/1995 on finances, Law No.22/1997 on narcotics and
psychotropic substances, Law No.20/2001 on corruption and Law
No.26/2000 on human rights. -- Antara
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'Destroy data on enemies of the state'
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'Destroy data on enemies of the state'
JAKARTA: All intelligence data and information on people who
allegedly committed crimes against the state must be made
available to the public and destroyed, according to the National
Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).
Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara, chairman of the commission, said
on Thursday that the data violated the spirit of human rights and
could easily be misused, therefore must be destroyed.
"In the past, some groups were labeled as left-wing or right-
wing, which attracted repressive action by authorities," he said.
-- Antara
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Education bill endorsement sought
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Education bill endorsement sought
JAKARTA: A group of students from various Islamic universities
met House of Representatives deputy speaker Muhaimin Iskandar on
Thursday to urge legislators to endorse the contentious national
education bill.
Despite disagreement between Muslim and Christian groups on
certain issues, the students said that the bill respected
pluralism.
Article 13 (1) of the bill obliges schools to provide
religious instruction according to the faith of each student.
The article requires private Christian schools to provide
Muslim teachers for Muslim students enrolled in those schools and
vice versa.
Religious leaders, particularly from Christian groups,
reiterated that religious instruction should be conducted at the
family level without state intervention.
The House's education commission chairman, Taufiqurrahman,
said that each group should not only focus on the religious
issue, adding that the education bill was designed to improve the
competency of students.
He said that all school graduates should meet a national
standard of quality. - JP