Jokowi"s war on drugs

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Indonesia is set to extend its policy of executing convicted drug felons, further endangering its international reputation and harming its ability to protect its own citizens abroad. Although broadly popular among the public, Indonesia"s response to a perceived spike in narcotics trafficking, addiction and drug-related fatalities is illustrative of reflexive policymaking irrespective of evidence. The resulting moral panic risks undermining treatment of those with legitimate drug dependency issues and the government"s capacity to formulate policy to address sensitive issues.

Since assuming Indonesia"s presidency in October 2014, Joko Widodo (known as Jokowi), more than 20 executions have taken place, the majority of which for drug offences. The execution in July of four convicted drug felons marked a macabre milestone, bringing the number of those executed for crimes linked to serious drug crimes to 18. This figure alone eclipses the 17 executions in total overseen by his predecessor, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (2004–14), during his decade in office. More executions will follow on Jokowi"s watch. Indonesian courts have passed another 46 death sentences during Jokowi"s tenure, most for drug offences. Extensive media coverage of drug busts, the vigilante approach of the Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, and oft-cited statistics suggesting that dozens of Indonesians are dying daily from drug-related deaths underpin the perception among many that their country, if not the region, is the grip of an endemic.

Manila in the meantime

In the Philippines, police are thought to have killed more than 2000 suspected drug dealers and users between the beginning of July and early September. This is compared with fewer than 70 during the first six months of the year, according to a human rights charity, Amnesty International. In early September the head of Indonesia"s National Narcotics Agency (BNN), Budi Waseso, suggested that a similar approach may curtail the number of drug traffickers and users in Indonesia.

For now Indonesian police seem unlikely to replicate Philippine-style vigilantism. In fact, Indonesian courts are largely following a 2009 revision of drug laws that encourages rehabilitation for small-time drug offenders. BNN is promising 200,000 spaces for treatment spaces this year, doubling to 400,000 in 2017. However, research from the Ministry of Health shows that the country may only have 74,000 injecting drug users and that only a fraction of these may actually need therapy. Still, the 600 or so certified centres are overflowing. Of the 17,000 prisoners in the capital, Jakarta, alone, 11,000 are locked up on drug offences. Access to services is scant. The country is thought to have fewer than 100 trained therapists qualified to help with dependency issues. Rehabilitation centres are effectively like prisons, where questionable methods are used to fast-track the so-called recovery of drug pushers, instead of providing effective care. However, when it comes to court-sanctioned killing, Indonesia has few rivals. It is already the world"s most enthusiastic executioner for drug felons, matching only Vietnam, which sent 16 to the gallows last year, according to a UK-based a non-government organisation, Harm Reduction.

Alienating human rights

This policy risks alienating Indonesia generally and Jokowi in particular. All the drug felons that Indonesia has executed since Jokowi became president, with the exception of three, have been foreign nationals. Australia recalled its ambassador when two of its citizens were executed last year. Brazil, too, sent an incoming Indonesian ambassador packing before he could present credentials when one of its own faced the firing squad. Another stand-off is brewing with the Philippines, the home country of a housekeeper, Mary Jane Veloso, who was arrested in 2010 for smuggling 2.6 kg of heroin into the country. Her case has won much sympathy throughout the two countries, long the source of cheap domestic labour abroad.

Specifically, the elan with which Indonesia, and now the Philippines, have embraced the death penalty either through the courts or vigilantes, makes it difficult for them to seek clemency on behalf of their own citizens on death row abroad. Indonesia has more than 200 people facing the death penalty abroad. For Jokowi, this increased used of the firing squad (the country"s favoured method for execution), poses a challenge at the next election in 2019. Human rights campaigners were a key constituency of his when he sought national office, when as governor of Jakarta he had little national network to rely on. Betrayed on this issue, it is unlikely activists will rally to his cause again.

Hazy data

Jokowi has turned a once benign approach to drugs to a bloody one. In the 15 years prior to his assuming the presidency, only seven were executed for drug crimes. This includes a four-year unofficial moratorium on executions. Publicly, BNN officials claim that 4.5m Indonesians are hooked on narcotics such as cannabis, heroin and crystal methamphetamine and that as many as 33 people die every day from drug-related causes. Researchers complain that the agency has not made its data publicly available for third party verification and that it is probably the result of guesswork. In a letter last year to a medical journal, the Lancet, 16 medical researchers and legal experts warned that the government conflated drug usage with addiction and was missing an opportunity to develop "an effective response to illicit drug use". Even so, the perception of many is that their country is drowning in a sea of foreign drugs. Jokowi remains popular, in part because of his unyielding approach to drug felons despite anaemic economic growth.

There are parallels with other hot-button social trends for which the government is poised to demonstrate a heavy hand. The Ministry of Communications and Informatics, for example, said in mid-September that it may ban all homosexual mobile dating sites after an alleged paedophile ring was discovered operating on one in early September. The Supreme Court is considering a petition to ban all sex outside marriage. Risky, unnecessary and heavy-handed, Indonesia"s approach to narcotics amounts to a betrayal not only of Jokowi"s liberal supporters but also for those with legitimate drug-dependency issues. The country"s whole-hearted embrace of the death penalty for drug offenders and forced rehabilitation illustrates the extent to which emotion, not evidence, dictates policy. This is a pity, as navigating complex social issues is surely the next step on Indonesia"s journey towards stronger democracy and improved social welfare.

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