Drugs and Bali

Drugs and Bali

Labor foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd called on the Howard government to require travel agents to provide written information to clients about the harsh penalties they face if caught with illicit drugs in Asia.

The Prime Minister, John Howard, was closer to the truth, and expressed the feelings of most Australians, when he declared last week: "It's beyond belief that Australians could be so stupid as to carry drugs into any country in Asia".

What he's saying is that the message has been broadcast as loud and clear as a bell: The government in Jakarta is cracking down, hard, on drugs.

As much as we may question such draconian sanctions, it is not hard to see why a poor, corruption-riddled society such as Indonesia would move to a zero-tolerance position on drugs, with the latest example of that position likely to be random urine tests in Bali tourist nightspots.

Nor is there any truth to the populist claim that Australians are being singled out in Indonesia's drug crackdown.

Two Thais and an Indian were executed for heroin smuggling last year and numerous locals have also felt the sting. -- The Australian, Sydney