New narcotics bill carries death penalty
JAKARTA (JP): The new bill on narcotic drugs the government submitted to the House of Representatives yesterday carries a maximum penalty of death for convicted offenders.
The bill, submitted by Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman, is a revision of Law No. 9 of 1976. It carries stiffer jail terms and fines.
Oetojo said the new bill was drafted due to concerns that the 1976 law on narcotics was no longer an effective deterrent for drug dealers.
"Drug dealers use more and more sophisticated methods. We need a tougher law to eradicate drug trafficking and abuse," Oetojo said in a plenary session chaired by deputy House Speaker Soetedjo.
What most concerned Indonesia, he said, was narcotic abuse involved young people.
"This fact is really deplorable. What else can we expect from the younger generation if many youngsters are addicted?" he said.
Police statistics show that Indonesia has an estimated 120,000 drug addicts, the third highest of the seven-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) after the Philippines, 334,500 and Vietnam, 180,000.
Attorney General Singgih warned recently that in 1995, Indonesia recorded 600 new cases, a development he described as "extraordinarily worrying".
The Jakarta Drug Rehabilitation Center reported last year that the number of students abusing drugs had increased at an alarming rate.
Director of the center Al Bachri Husin said the hospital admitted three addicted students last year compared to "only" one in 1995, reported Kompas.
The center handled between 10 and 20 drug addicts a day, mostly heroin addicts.
Beside the bill on narcotics, the government also submitted one to ratify the 1988 United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.
The two bills, after they are passed into law, were expected to effectively help Indonesia deal with drug-related problems, Oetojo said.
Illicit narcotic trafficking over the past several decades has given countries throughout the world a headache, making international cooperation a must, he added.
Geographically, Indonesia is a strategic transit point located as it is between the Indian and Pacific oceans and close to the so called Golden Triangle, the infamous opium fields in the area bordering Myanmar, Thailand and Laos.
Oetojo said the 1988 UN convention dealt with matters concerning drug control that are not regulated in Indonesia's pertaining law on narcotic drugs such as money laundering, control of drug delivery and wire tapping. (pan)