'Rehabilitation better than jail' for Maya Sigit

JAKARTA (JP): A psychiatrist for drug defendant Gusti Maya Firanti Noor, 29, the wife of former president Soeharto's grandson Ari Sigit, told a court hearing on Tuesday that the defendant would be better off in a rehabilitation center than in jail.

"If the defendant ends up in jail, she might come out and start smoking shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine) again. If she stays at a rehabilitation center, things might start to look up for her," Al Bachri, a 54-year-old psychiatrist for drug users at Wisma Addiksi drug addiction center, told the West Jakarta District Court.

The hearing, presided over by judge Sri Handojo, heard the testimony of Bachri as an expert witness who is also serving as a witness for the defendant.

Bachri said that before Maya had come with her mother to see him on June 6 last year, Maya had undergone a number of examinations at a certain hospital in South Jakarta for lung problems, allegedly caused by consuming drugs.

"Shabu-shabu is a stimulant, which, if used regularly for a long period, could effect the brain functions of a person, cause mental problems and physical problems to the liver, the heart and the lungs. The defendant, to my knowledge, has been on the drug for three years now," Bachri said.

"The last time I treated the defendant was in August last year."

Bachri denied that he had applied a certain kind of treatment used by some doctors to get patients gradually off drugs.

"No, unlike some doctors, I do not feed drugs to patients in declining dosages, till the appetite for drugs goes away," Bachri said, eliminating any chance that the doctor himself had prescribed shabu-shabu for the defendant as a method of treating her, as was implied by Maya's lawyer, Asfifudin, in the last hearing.

Asfifudin earlier said that the drugs confiscated from his client could possibly have been prescribed by Bachri.

When asked what kind of lung affliction the defendant suffered from, Bachri told the Tuesday hearing that it was a bronchial affliction caused by "inhaling the shabu-shabu".

He, however, failed to provide his analysis with evidence.

Judge Sri Handojo stated that since Bachri could not provide any written medical reports of the patient's alleged physical ailments due to drug use, the court would adjourn the hearing till next Tuesday when prosecutor Achjadi is expected to have officially acquired the evidence from Pertamina Hospital.

As reported earlier, the defendant was arrested after police found 1.58 grams of shabu and drug paraphernalia in her purse and inside her Mercedes Benz sedan on June 22.

The defendant has been charged with violating Article 62 of Law No. 5/1997 on psychotropic substances, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. (ylt)