Parent's tale of drug menace

Parent's tale of drug menace

From Merdeka

Ecstasy, satan's pills, have now become all the more satanic
in our city of Palembang, disturbing parents of teenage children.

My son, a fourth-semester university student in Palembang, did
not come home or attend lectures for a week. One of his friends
informed me he was spending his time taking Ecstasy in a local
disco, buying the pills with the money allocated for his
education.

On the evening of Aug. 23, 1997, I found him tripping at a
discotheque on Kolonel H. Burlian Street, Palembang. He resisted
when I tried to take him home and we argued. The security officer
on duty then took my son away.

I was saddened when I saw what the discotheque was like. Young
men and young women mingled in heavy cigarette smoke under dim
disco lights, shaking their heads under the influence of Ecstasy.
What will become of the younger generation if this continues?

A disco security officer told me the police had formerly
conducted raids, which had caused a drop in the number of disco
patrons.

He said the city's nightclub owners filed a request with the
chief of the plainclothes police squad, requesting the number of
raids be curtailed. As a result, no more raids have been
conducted since April 1997, and each discotheque is allegedly
required to hand over Rp 2 million a month to a particular police
officer. God only knows whether this report is true; what is
clear is that the raids have stopped.

As members of the community, we request you take action in
conducting raids on discos in Palembang. If possible, the anti-
explosives squad and police dog units from Jakarta should be
assigned, as they were for a gambling raid in Lampung some time
ago. This will enhance the image of the Indonesian police.

May the esteemed police chief and all his officers continue to
protect the rights of the people.

TAUFIK ISHAK

Palembang, South Sumatra