Upside-down tactics

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.