Councillor jailed for drugs

SEMARANG: Sudiharto Saka, a councillor with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), was sentenced on Tuesday to five months and 15 days in prison in a drugs case.

The Semarang District Court also fined him Rp 500,000 (US$58), to be substituted for by two months imprisonment if he failed to pay.

Prosecutors had sought 11 months in jail and a Rp 1 million fine for the defendant.

The judges said Saka, from Tegal regency in Central Java, had been proven guilty of consuming an ecstasy pill in the Zodiak Discotheque at the Hotel Karlita in the town last August.

A urine test by police investigators proved the drug charges against him. Saka admitted to having bought the pill for Rp 100,000.

The judges said Saka had violated Article 60 of Law No. 5/1997 on drugs.

Among the compounding factors that had led to a heavier sentence for Saka was the fact that the example he had set had impeded the government's efforts to fight drug abuse, the court added. --Antara