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