Jokowi reiterates call to jointly fight drug abuse

JAKARTA. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo reiterated his firm call to jointly fight drug abuse on Wednesday during a national coordination meeting held by the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) that was also attended by governors, regents and mayors from across the country.

"There is an emergency situation [of rampant drug abuse cases in the country] that requires everyone to work together [in handling it]," Jokowi said in his opening speech during the event in Jakarta. "We need to take firm action. No more tolerance [on drug abuse]."

According to Jokowi, there were between 4 and 4.5 million, or around 2 percent of the population, drug users who needed rehabilitation.

Lawmakers recently slammed the BNN for its lack of a comprehensive plan to deal with rampant narcotics-related crime amid Jokowi's firm call to execute convicted drug smugglers.

Although the majority of lawmakers from House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs, human rights and security applauded Jokowi’s firm policy, few of them were convinced by the narcotics agency’s plan to achieve the government’s ambitious target of making Indonesia drug-free this year.

The lawmakers’ pessimism was partly due to the ongoing distribution of drugs from prisons, which, it is believed, is protected by officials.

BNN chief Comr. Gen. Anang Iskandar said today's meeting was expected to push for a joint commitment between the central and local administrations in handling drug abuse with integrated measures.

To promote the government’s fight against narcotics, Anang recently also reiterated the target of rehabilitating 100,000 drug addicts every year while at the same time proceeding with the firm policy of executing drug smugglers.