Police favor death for drug dealers

JAKARTA: National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar has encouraged judges to pass death sentences on major drug dealers as a better deterrent to halting the illicit trade.

"I am glad to hear that more and more major drug offenders get death," Da'i said after swearing in Comr. Gen. Nurfaizi as the new chief of the National Coordinating Body for Narcotics (BKNN).

Most death sentences for drug dealers have been handed down by Tangerang district court, Banten. The court has sentenced at least 14 criminals, mostly foreigners, to death over the past two years.

Most of them were arrested at Soekarno-Hatta airport as they attempted to smuggle drugs into the country from Pakistan, India and Thailand.

Da'i, who was a former BKNN chief till President Megawati Soekarnoputri appointed him police chief late last year, said he hoped that the agency would be armed with greater powers to allow it to better coordinate with police.

The BKNN has planned to improve public participation in the fight against drug trafficking, which has become one of the most serious social problems.

According to Da'i, narcotics-related cases had nearly doubled in the past few years while the number of addicts had increased 45 percent.

BKNN officials put the number of drug addicts at about 2.4 million out of a total Indonesian population of 210 million people.

Nur Faizi said that Association of Southeast Asian Nation member countries (ASEAN) had agreed to cooperate to make the region drug-free by 2015.

"It needs a major effort involving all spectrums of society to make the ASEAN dream come true," said Faizi, a former Jakarta city police chief. -- Antara