Drug Abuse Threatens Indonesia’s Younger Generation
By Hani MumtazahJakarta, Indonesia
04/09/2003
Bambang had been a cheerful and active boy, but as he grew up he turned into a quiet and ‘mysterious’ young man. His family suspected that he might be a drug addict, but they were reluctant to talk openly about the problem, which could bring disgrace to the family. Only a few times did they ask him whether he was an illicit drug user, and he always responded that he did not take illicit drugs any longer. Until one day he collapsed and finally passed away after being hospitalized for three days.
Drug Abuse in Indonesia: The Causes Thousands of young men have wasted their lives because of illicit drugs in Indonesia. They were mostly victims of a ‘cruel’ environment, a broken-home family, of ignorance, of curiosity or particularly of the illegal drugs mafia. Although Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim country, with 80% of its 212 million embracing Islam, it is estimated that the country has around 4 million illicit drug users – about one in every 50 Indonesians. In the capital city of Jakarta, it is estimated that three out of ten young people are users.
A study by the International Labor Organization (ILO) office in Indonesia showed that around four per cent of illicit drug users in the country are children under 17 years old. Two out of ten users are involved in illicit trafficking. Some teenagers start being involved in producing and trafficking ‘narkoba’ between the ages of 13 and 15, says Gita Lingga, a spokesperson of ILO Jakarta.
‘Narkoba’ is the Indonesian term for narcotics, psychotropic and addictive substances. Psychotropic substances popularly called Ecstasy and Shabu-shabu are considered favorites among the middle and upper class users. However, for an increasing number of young people, the drug of choice is low-grade heroin, known as putaw, which is cheap, plentiful, but potentially deadly.
These drugs are readily available in all major urban areas, including schools, Karaoke lounges, bars, cafes, discotheques, nightclubs, and they even spread into remote villages. Therefore it is not surprising that drug users continue to increase from year to year.
People usually take drugs to have fun or escape the pressures of life. Drug users among students are particularly worrying. It was reported that a number of traffickers operate around schools by cheating, forcing or giving free illicit drugs to students. Once the students are addicted, they then go to the traffickers to buy the illicit drugs. If they do not have money, they steal it from their family members or others.
Recently, the police caught elementary students, as young as seven years old, for using illicit drugs in North Sulawesi. Chairman of the National Narcotics Coordinating Board (BKNN), Pol. Gen. Togar Sianipar, said that the country’s illicit drug users include around 7,000 junior high school students, over 10,000 senior high school students and about 800 elementary school students.
The Waning Role of the Family
Schools are among the top targets for anti-narkoba campaigns
According to BKNN, the government's policy against the drug problem is comprehensive and multidimensional, covering the aspects of prevention, eradication of drug abuse and drug crimes. Schools are among the top targets for anti-narkoba campaigns.
Sianipar said a crucial factor that worsens drug abuse among youth is a lack of control from family members, especially parents. “People are now becoming more materialistic. They work day and night to earn more money, and they forget that their children need their care and love above all materialistic things,” he said.
Recognizing the important role of women in rearing children, BKNN has signed a cooperation agreement with the Indonesian Women Congress (Kowani) to promote an anti-illicit drugs campaign for the years 2002 –2003. Executive Director of BKNN Nurfaizi said that one of the obstacles facing the government in dealing with drug abuse is a lack of support and openness from the family members of drug victims.
Openness is one of the keys to preventing drug abuse. Therefore, it was very timely that “Let’s Talk About Drugs” became the theme for this year’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. The theme summed up the best starting point for tackling any problem: recognizing that it exists and speaking openly about it, said the UN Secretary General in his message on the Anti-Drug Day commemoration last June.
An estimated 200 million people worldwide use illicit drugs, amounting to around 4.7 per cent of the global population aged over 14. “But the effects of drug abuse go far beyond the individuals concerned and cause incalculable harm to society in health, social and economic terms -- including the spread of HIV,” said Kofi Annan in his message.
"Let's Talk About Drugs" underlines the need for children, families, peers, teachers and communities to talk about drug abuse, admit that it is a problem, and take responsibility for doing something about it. “The support of caring and listening parents has proven to be one of the most important protective factors against drug abuse. But for the many young people around the world who do not have the advantage of a supportive home environment, we all have a special responsibility,” said the UN Secretary General.
In Indonesia, when speaking in commemoration of the National Family Day last June 2003, President Megawati Soekarnoputri urged the Indonesian people to pay more attention to the quality of their families, because later it will determine the nation's future.
"The future of our statehood and nationhood will depend much on our continuous efforts to improve the quality of our respective families." She particularly expressed her concern over the increasing failure in building good family management, quoting a report from BKNN saying that of the 15,000 drug abuse cases in the past two years, some 46 percent are youngsters aging from 17 to 30 years.
International Syndicates
“More than 50% of prisoners in Indonesian jails..are those involved in drug problems.”
Gen. Da’i Bachtiar
Reports on increasing drug abuse indicate that Indonesia has shifted from previously being a transit area into becoming a consumption and marketing area. The National Anti Narcotics Movement (Granat), the most prominent drug prevention NGO in Indonesia, confirms that the use of heroin and opium derivatives is increasing, particularly in Jakarta, despite the nation’s commitment to become a drug-free Indonesia by the year 2015.
Chief of the Indonesian Police, Gen. Da’i Bachtiar, also acknowledged that illicit drug abuse and trafficking continue to increase lately. “More than 50 percent of prisoners in Indonesian jails at present are those involved in drugs problems. The prisoners include foreigners, which indicates that an international syndicate is also responsible for trafficking in this country,” he said when speaking at the commemoration of the International Day Against Illicit Drug Abuse and Trafficking at the Vice Presidential Palace on June 26, 2003.
The increasing smuggling of heroin is mostly conducted by African couriers, followed by Asians and Europeans, and in a smaller number by Americans and Australians. Many of the foreign drug traffickers establish themselves in Indonesia by speaking the local language and marrying Indonesian women.
According to the 1999 Narcotics Report on the Asia-Pacific Region, Indonesia is becoming increasingly vulnerable to sophisticated trafficking groups. The country is particularly vulnerable to mail and courier shipments of drug trafficking organizations, especially heroin and cocaine. Heroin is believed to be smuggled into Indonesia from the "Golden Triangle" countries (Thailand, Burma, and Laos). Drugs entering Indonesia frequently transit Thailand, either from Bangkok to Jakarta or from Bangkok to Singapore to Jakarta. The Indonesian Police also report an increase in heroin and opium derivatives being smuggled into Jakarta and Bali from the "Golden Crescent" countries (Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran).
Africans suspected to be drug smugglers are very closely scrutinized by Indonesian law enforcers, and the potential for them to be brutalized or killed during an attempted arrest is statistically greater than any other ethnic group, according to the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2002. It is very unfortunate that the presence of a few African drug smugglers in Indonesia has seriously damaged the image of African people in the eyes of the Indonesian people.
Although efforts in the prevention of smuggling have improved, which shows in the number of arrests of African nationals acting as couriers, the illicit trafficking of drugs is not showing a declining trend. In 1997, the Indonesian Parliament approved legislation outlawing psychotropic drugs including ecstasy, and providing for penalties of up to seven years imprisonment for marijuana possession and a maximum of 20 years in jail for marijuana trafficking. The Law No. 22 of the 1997 amended narcotic Law No.9 of 1976. But the severe penalties do not intimidate the smugglers and traffickers from continuing their activities.
On the occasion of Anti-Drug Day, the Indonesian Police destroyed illicit drugs worth Rp 11,7 billion (over one million US dollars), consisting of, among other things, ecstasy, cocaine, heroin, Cannabis sativa, shabu-shabu, amphetamine and Benzodiazepam.
According to Stephen E. Flynn, a senior fellow at the US National Security Studies, in his article on Drugs published on the Council on Foreign Relations website in the year 2000, illicit drugs were one of the world's largest commodities businesses. Estimates of its annual revenues ranged from $100 billion to as high as $500 billion.
The Chief of the Indonesian Police, Da'i Bachtiar, has stated that he will model BKNN after the United States DEA, and it will have a specific responsibility for intelligence networking and the investigation of international drug syndicates that impact Indonesia's counter narcotics efforts.
Injection Safety and AIDS
Drug abuse has also contributed to the increase of HIV/AIDS patients in Indonesia, through the usage of unsterile injections. According to a report based on an illicit drug and injection safety study of 20 Asian countries conducted by the Center for Harm Reduction in Australia’s Burnet Institute, drug injecting is spreading to all the countries [of Asia] and its popularity is increasing. Professional injectors of illicit drugs operate in Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Vietnam, said the report.
New populations, especially young people, are becoming involved with illicit drugs and with their injection. Indonesia could have up to 1 million drug injectors. The number in China is estimated to be 3.5 million. A high proportion of drug injectors are infected with HIV in China (70%), Indonesia (19%), Iran (75%), Myanmar (63%), Kathmandu, Nepal (50%), Thailand (50%), and Vietnam (63%).
The Burnet Institute’s report, which has been described as "the most comprehensive review of drug use and HIV/AIDS in Asia”, found that drug use had become one of the major causes of the HIV epidemic in the Asia region.
In Indonesia, some 3,614 HIV/AIDS patients were recorded since 1987, and 332 of them have died. The threat of HIV/AIDS in Indonesia could be more worrying than those in Africa, because it multiplies very fast due to the use of contaminated injections by drug users. In 1995, only 2 per cent of new HIV/AIDS infections nationwide were due to drug use; by 2001 this had risen to 20 per cent. In the same year, 47 per cent of injecting drug users at RSKO hospital tested positive for HIV. Similar findings elsewhere suggest needle sharing will soon surpass unsafe sex as the most common method of contracting HIV.
Indonesian Government Suffers from Corruption
There is an increasing role of concerned citizens and NGOs involved in the fight against drugs, in particular in the fields of prevention and rehabilitation. Since 1999, an anti-drug abuse foundation called YCAB has been campaigning to the general public, keeping in mind that the spread and use of illicit drugs is a national problem. The campaign conducted by YCAB is done through the mass media in the form of Public Service Ads in the radio and television, major newspapers, magazines, billboards, posters, banners and brochure distributions.
Despite growing awareness of the problem, Indonesia faces unique obstacles and some reluctance in dealing with it. “Although the use of illicit drugs is increasing, political conflict, power struggles and widespread corruption are influencing how the drug-related HIV/AIDS crisis should be tackled," the Macfarlane Burnet report said.
"The government needs to make a moral commitment to dealing with this problem," says Chairman of the National Movement of Anti-Narcotics and Other Illicit Drugs (Granat), Henry Yosodiningrat. "But one obstacle to obtaining that commitment is that the syndicates have a lot of money to buy officials and this is one of the most corrupt countries." Law enforcement in Indonesia is considered very weak due to bribery and corruption, which are quite common among security and legal officers.
A vice chairman of the Indonesian People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Oesman Sapta said that the government is actually not serious enough in dealing with drug problems. “Every day there are reports of arrests of drug users, but those arrests are not significant. The government must arrest and punish big traffickers to death. The youths are merely victims,” he said.
Enforcement officials lack training and experience in contemporary enforcement and investigative methodologies, and corruption is a constant problem. Indonesia has laws to punish official corruption, including corruption by high-level officials. Indonesian law also punishes anyone who tries to hamper the investigation or prosecution of a narcotics crime with five years in prison and a fine of Rupiahs 150,000,000 (approximately $15,000). These laws are rarely enforced, however, and low salaries mean individual officials are susceptible to bribery.
In 1997, the Indonesian Parliament approved legislation outlawing psychotropic drugs including ecstasy, and providing for penalties of up to seven years imprisonment for marijuana possession and a maximum of 20 years in jail for marijuana trafficking. But, some NGOs have called for the death penalty as part of a high-profile campaign against illegal drugs.
According to the Granat chief, 90 per cent of the 4 million addicts are poor. It is the duty of the government to save the young people, the assets and the future of the nation. The addicted youths are victims and they have the right to receive medical services from the government. The government must set up rehabilitation centers, which provide free medical services for them, and not only make statements, he said.
Currently, there is not one free rehabilitation center for poor drug addicts in Indonesia. The existing rehabilitation centers for drug addicts are mostly commercial and only the rich can afford sending their addicted children there.
“This is an extremely serious issue for us. It's a threat that could kill an entire generation," said Granat Chief Henry Yosodiningrat, a Jakarta lawyer and a member of the government's National Narcotics Agency.
"One generation of this nation will be lost if we do not take action together and immediately. In short, we must be ready to go to war against illicit drugs and the war must start from home,” he said, adding that therefore active participation of women are very crucial to win the war.
To the young people, he reminded that they must not try to use any illicit drugs whatsoever, because once they try, they will be trapped and later become addicted, and the addiction will finally turn them into criminals or take their lives.
Sources:
2003, Message of the Secretary General on the International Day Against Drug Abuse and illicit trafficking
2003, ANTARA, ILO-IPEC report on drug abuse among the young people in Indonesia
2002, Immunization Update, the World Bank
2000, DRUGS by Stephen E. Flynn, Senior Fellow for National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations
The Asian Harm Reduction Network, The Burnet Institute report, Australia
2002, Excerpt from International Narcotics Control Strategy Report March 2002, The US Department of State Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
2003, Indonesia is dancing with death, The Age, Australia
Hani Mumtazah is an environmental journalist based in Jakarta, Indonesia. She graduated from a three-year English language non-decree program at the University of Indonesia, Jakarta. She attended the Non-Aligned News Agencies Journalism Course in New Delhi, India, in 1987. Comments and suggestions may be forwarded to her by contacting the editor at: ScienceTech@islam-online.net