'Inaccurate news could worsen drug problems'

JAKARTA (JP): An international conference on the prevention of drug and substance abuse opened here yesterday with President Soeharto warning that inaccurate media reporting could worsen the country's drug problems.

"We count on the mass media to participate in the eradication of drug and other addictive substance abuse," Soeharto said at the start of the five-day International Federation of Non- Governmental Organizations (IFNGO) conference, at Hotel Indonesia.

He said that journalists themselves have drawn up a set of "ethics" for reporting on the issue.

"We need to be aware that incorrect reporting on narcotics could be misconstrued as a sort of drug promotion," he said.

Soeharto said Indonesia's almost 200 million citizens, spread over thousands of islands, were vulnerable to drugs and globalization could add to "the increased flow of narcotics and other addictive substances in our countries."

The IFNGO conference brings together 516 participant governments and NGO delegates from 32 countries.

The Indonesian House of Representatives recently passed a bill ratifying a United Nations convention on psychotropic drugs.

The government has submitted a bill on psychotropic drugs to the House of Representatives in an attempt to curb the growing trade of rave stimulant Ecstasy. However, all factions in the House of Representatives have expressed doubts that the maximum punishment proposed in the bill is sufficient to deter violations.

The Indonesian Democratic Party questioned the proposed maximum penalty which is less than the maximum penalty of death under the 1976 narcotics law. They argue that the abuse of certain psychotropic substances is often more damaging than narcotic abuse, so sanctions should be stiffer.

Minister of Health Sujudi in the first reading of the bill on Sept. 5 said the minimum penalty in the psychotropic drug bill should be more than the minimum penalty for general drug abuse, as outlined in the 1992 Health Law, which is 15 years.

This year Indonesian police narcotics squads and customs officials have arrested traffickers smuggling more than one million Ecstasy pills, many of which come from other Southeast Asian countries and The Netherlands.

The authorities are currently dealing with several controversial cases of Ecstasy trafficking and abuse. The most prominent one involves television actress, Zarina, who escaped from police guards in Jakarta in August after being caught for the possession of almost 30,000 Ecstasy pills, and who was recaptured in Houston, Texas, last month.

Soeharto called for special attention to be given to the drug problems among young people. "We have seen the deplorable results of narcotics abuse. Those who are addicted are people who have lost their dignity as human beings," he said.

"If there are many young people addicted to narcotics and dangerous substances, then it will lead to social instability and endanger human resource development," he said.

Soeharto declared war against drug abuse and called for concerted, organized efforts between countries and agencies to fight the organized drug rings which prey mostly on young people.

The trafficking of narcotics and other addictive substances..is a danger to the communities, civilization and humanity, all countries in the world have to solidify cooperation to eradicate the abuse," he said.

"We have to close the movement space of traffickers of dangerous substances by exchanging information and strengthening cooperation in all fields, whether in prevention, in legal enforcement or in research," he said.

Soeharto expressed gratitude for the IFNGO Award conferred upon his late wife, Mrs. Tien Soeharto, for her work in the anti- drug campaign directed at young people.

"Hopefully, the award will remind me and my family to continue with the work she initiated to save young people, and toward creating a world free of narcotics, psychotropic and other addictive substance abuse," he said. (swe)