Drugs abuse and trafficking: How low can you go?
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Amid mounting concerns due to the increasing numbers of drug abusers in the capital, the government seems to be powerless to contain the problem and curb the distribution of illegal drugs.
Alarmingly high figures on drug abuse and trafficking were released by a consortium of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in October 2000 which stated that 3.4 million people, or more than one-third of Jakarta's total population of 8.9 million, are known to be drug abusers. If all the data is accurate, it means that in only one year, the figure rose by a whopping 70 percent from 1999 statistics.
Drug abuse in the capital has reached a terribly high level, not only in terms of the massive number of people abusing the drugs, but also in terms of the age of the victims.
The latest data from police records indicate that the drug abusers comprise not only adults, but also teenagers and even children who are still in elementary school.
Fresh findings confirmed that some 1,000 high school students were caught while using drugs, and some 166 high schools across the capital reported drug cases on campus. Still, many reports and other data suggest that there are far more young users than those who were caught in the act.
Such a worsening condition of drug abuse also seemed to indicate failure on behalf of the government to contain illegal drug trafficking here.
Huge amounts of heroin and other illicit drugs are smuggled into the country on a regular basis it is estimated. Latest data shows that heroin trafficking exceeds an astonishing 30 tons every month.
The government's failure to crack down on drugs was admitted by President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who blamed the lack of diligence on the part of law enforcers, who are unable or unwilling to fight drug trafficking.
"I'm really becoming impatient with all the existing procedures and our recent record in failing to contain drug abuse," said Megawati during a speech in October.
She contended that the rampant drug abuse was partly due to the absence of harsher punishment against drug dealers.
To deter the drug abusers, she declared a war against drug trafficking by calling on law enforcers to give heavier sentences to drug dealers and producers, including the death penalty, which several other ASEAN neighbors have done.
She also assigned the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) with the task of coordinating the anti-drug campaign.
Many welcomed Megawati's call for harsher punishment to drug dealers, but some doubted that such a measure would be effective to curb the drug trafficking.
An anti-narcotics campaigner, lawyer Henry Yosodiningrat concurred with the president, saying the existing laws on drugs needed amending in order to make them more effective to contain drug-related crimes.
But, Joyce Djaelani Gordon of the Harapan Hati Kita Foundation doubted that any effort could be effective until government officials and law enforcers quit the practice of corruption which obviously undermines any law that could be enacted. Reportedly there are certain corrupt customs officials and certain police who regularly take bribes from dealers and traffickers.
Meanwhile, human rights lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis expressed skepticism that capital punishment would curb the number of drug cases in the country.
He regretted that such stern punishment had not reached the truly major drug traffickers.
Those who had already been given the death penalty were nothing more than couriers, not the real drug bosses.
Data on death sentences handed down for defendants of drug offenses mostly came from the Tangerang District Court.
In the past 20 months, the Tangerang court has surprisingly sentenced 14 defendants to death, most of whom are foreigners, in drug offenses.
The majority of them were arrested at Soekarno-Hatta airport as they were attempting to smuggle drugs into the country via Pakistan, India or Thailand.
Three of those on death row are Indonesians: Deni Setiawan Maharwan, 28, Rani Andriani, 25 and Meirika Franola, 31. The others included five Nepalese, three Nigerians, one Zimbabwean and one Angolan. There is also one facing a life sentence, a courier from Malawi.
The amount of drugs found on the defendants varied, from 554 grams to 3.8 kilograms of heroin.
Although the government's new tough stance against drug dealers deserves some praise, most observers warned that the effort would be futile unless the government formulates clear and thorough strategies to deal with the entire issue.
The government must simultaneously fight drug trafficking, uphold the law and provide rehabilitation for victims and dealers, according to the observers.
City Police Detective of Narcotics chief Adj. Sr. Carlo Tewu claimed that his team had done its utmost to combat the drug trafficking.
"We have found it to be difficult to eradicate the problem due to limited number of personnel and poor telecommunication facilities," Carlo said.
He claimed that most syndicates supplying drugs to the black market work in closed and solid work chains, and are therefore more organized and efficient than the police. They are also supported by highly skilled personnel with sophisticated telecommunication devices -- another thing the police are sorely lacking -- so that it was difficult for the police to break or track down the organization.
Based on recent police findings of drug supplies in the market, the drugs are mostly smuggled from abroad into Jakarta through Indonesian waters, via Batam from Malaysia. The drugs are believed to come from various parts of Asia.
In August, the police managed to arrest three men on a speedboat carrying eight kilograms of shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine), after they had arrived at Tanjung Priok port from Batam. The police also seized 10 kilograms of marijuana from a passenger at the port. Most of the marijuana is believed to have been grown in northern Sumatra.
Carlo also said that many of the ecstasy pills have been produced locally. "That's why ecstasy is relatively easy to obtain here."
In a raid at the Taman Anggrek apartments in West Jakarta, the police nabbed three suspected ecstasy producers, confiscating 3,940 pills and five kilograms of raw materials.
Following Megawati's statement, the police commenced several anti-drug sweeps on places suspected to be centers of drug trafficking. In the first four weeks of the anti-drug operation, the police have detained 124 suspects, confiscating some 104 grams of heroin, 39,151 ecstasy pills, 60 kilograms marijuana and other psychotropic substances.
The surprisingly small quantity of drugs seized in the raids, sparked some pointed questions from the public, on whether or not the police were really serious, or had the necessary integrity for such an operation.
Carlo claimed that those police operations were aimed at encouraging public awareness to help combat the drug trafficking, not to catch the "big fish".
"We want to empower the people to protect themselves from the threatening drugs," Carlo rationalized.
Many young people have fallen prey to drug dealers and producers who charge them expensive prices for the illicit substances which in turn, often creates an addiction and prompts addicts to commit crimes in order to buy the drugs they need for a fix.
Those drug dealers or producers also have been known to unprofessionally mix the drugs with other, sometimes harmful, substances in a ploy to lower the price of production, but they risk further harm, even death, to drug users due to their ignorance and greed.
Intravenous drug users are also at risk for various diseases which can be contracted by the sharing of needles. About 40 percent of intravenous drug users have been found to be infected with either the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The equally deadly hepatitis B virus can also be contracted through shared needles.
The prevalence of known HIV cases also rose to an officially reported 415 in June 2001, up from only an officially reported three in the same month in 1998, according to Ministry of Health data.