'Force religion on kids, not drugs'

Every parent fears that their children might become trapped in the cycle of drug addiction. They talked to The Jakarta Post about their fears and what should be done to deal with the problem of drug abuse among youth.

Armyn Gutom, 35, an activist with an NGO who has two children, and lives in Jagakarsa, South Jakarta.

"Drug trafficking is difficult to be curbed because the police are not serious in handling the problem. Maybe, the police also profit from the business. They may receive something from the narcotics bosses.

I think if they were serious they would be able to resolve this problem. It is inconceivable that the police and the related agencies do not know of the drug trafficking networks. The police, for example, are provided with an intelligence unit which should be able to track their networks. If they cannot, why should we have police and other security agencies?

I think all Indonesian people who have children fear that their children would use drugs. I, myself, have a relative who is addicted to narcotics. His parents have tried to cure him, including through therapy, but so far their efforts have not been so successful."

Haris Pindratno, 42, is a civil servant living in Cijantung, East Jakarta, whose eldest child is now a third-year junior high student.

"As we cannot expect too much from the legal system to resolve problems of drug trafficking, what we can do now is to protect our family members from taking drugs and other addictive substances.

As parents, we should be able to explain to our children about the danger of drugs on their health as well as on their future. Parents, I think, should always try to know their children's friends and their activities outside the house.

Another important thing is that children should be introduced to religion as young as possible so that they can protect themselves from bad influences of the environment.

I do not blame the police and other law enforcers who cannot solve the problems of drug trafficking because they are very limited.

I think the move of the government to cooperate with non- governmental organizations (NGOs) and other elements in society to deal with drug problems should be supported."

Amir Hamzah, 57, a retired civil servant who is now active in an NGO, and has two grown-up children.

"I think the source of the difficulty in handling drug problems is the government's inconsistency in upholding regulations. The government or law enforcers, I think, lack a commitment to upholding the law.

The action against drug traffickers as shown by Governor Sutiyoso (who raided two night spots last week) will not solve the problem as it is only a political move. The entertainment places that were shut down have resumed their operation.

Thank God that none of my children take narcotics. Because I feared that my children could be involved in this activity, since they were young, I have tried to make them understand the danger of consuming drugs. Introducing religion to our children from an early age, I think, is the most important thing for parents to do."