Upside-down tactics

Over five decades of independence for Indonesia has meant not only freedom from foreign colonialism, but also ample time to learn how to confront Herculean problems and complications without losing our heads.

Besides facing a devastating economic crisis, the threat of national disintegration, violation of human rights, the abuse of power and blatant disrespect for the law, this nation is also being plagued by the terror of drugs. Some narcotics officers have said that this country is not only a market for international drug syndicates, but is also an illegal drug producer. So Indonesia now looks like a candle burning at both ends.

Observers say that foreign drug dealers have targeted Indonesia because of the large population and the leniency of the legal system. Compared to Malaysia and Singapore, Indonesia is a nirvana for drug traffickers.

In Singapore, a drug trafficker caught smuggling in 15 grams of heroin is subject to the death penalty if found guilty in court. But in Indonesia, judges admit it is difficult to prove drug charges. Many people claim that drugs seized as evidence often dwindle in bulk on their way to the courthouse thanks to corrupt officers.

While no party wants to accept the blame, the number of those falling prey to drugs increases by the day, and they are getting younger and younger. On the other side of the dark picture, drug syndicates seem to be proficient at finding ways to sell their commodities here. The desperation caused by the economic turmoil has also helped drug syndicates in their operations.

Reports say that besides recruiting young people as traffickers, the syndicates have also lured women -- especially housewives -- into the dirty business. Women are said to be better at attracting users.

Police officers are falling over each other's feet in hunting down drug traffickers, but big catches are seldom heard of. It is a tragic irony that the public is fed stories of police successes in drug catches, when the major players go untouched.

The military police are still handling the cases of 28 Army and police officers suspected of either drug dealing or growing marijuana over the past three years, while new cases are piling up.

In this case, one can understand the serious concern of members of the public -- especially parents, who are at a loss as to how to prevent their children from falling victims. Some neighborhoods have posted signs that declare war on drugs, while in one area the patience of community members wore thin and they set fire to a house where they suspected drug dealers lived. They claimed the police were impotent in facing the criminals.

Worse still, parents whose children have been lured into the world of drugs and caught by the police are often faced with another predicament when it comes time to arrange their release from police detention and the financial settlement it entails. Once the child is back home, parents often have difficultly finding a rehabilitation center -- usually a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) -- that is able to truly save their child from the dangers of drugs, because the ones which used to do this noble social service effectively are now surrounded by drug traffickers who prey on the reforming addicts. A few parents send their addicted children to an Islamic school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to be rehabilitated. But locally there appears to be no solution.

To date there is no light at the end of the tunnel, and the tendrils of the drug world stretch out to our younger generation. This is made all the more possible because the authorities started the antinarcotics campaign from the wrong end. They hunt down small-time drug traffickers and drug users. That they are failing is obvious when one considers that no important drug trafficker or producers have been caught.