Indonesia combats online narcotics sales

With traditional narco-trafficking already posing a decades-old problem, Indonesia appears to be facing a fresh challenge: increased drug dealing via the Internet.

• Indonesians surf the web at an Internet cafe in Jakarta in 2001. Since 2001, Internet use has skyrocketed from around 1% to 10% of the population, leading to new opportunities and problems. Authorities became more aware of online drug dealing after a deputy governor's son was recently arrested for ordering five ecstasy pills online. [Beawiharta/Reuters]
  

Related Articles

• Drugs a growing menace in Indonesia
• Islamist group urged to abandon hardline tactics
• Indonesian church closure raises religious freedom concerns

The issue came into sharp focus with the mid-March arrest of Banten Deputy Governor Rano Karno's adopted son, who allegedly bought five ecstasy pills over the Internet from Malaysia.
The son, Raka Widyarma, has been charged with drug dealing along with a friend. Each could face up to 20 years imprisonment and a 10 billion rupiah ($1.1 million) fine.
This led Rano to beg the police to send his son to a rehabilitation centre instead of prison.
Police in Indonesia, who have long dealt with the scourge of drug smuggling and abuse, aren't surprised by the use of the Internet to order drugs.
"It seems drug dealing via the Internet is the new mode of operation nowadays," National Narcotics Board (BNN) Spokesman Sumirat Dwiyanto told Khabar Southeast Asia.
Indonesia now boasts the third largest population of netizens on earth, so drug sales over the Internet are only a matter of time, but children in particular must be kept from exposure to these negative pages, Sumirat added.
To some degree, the country appears to be succeeding in tackling the growing problem. A joint BNN/University of Indonesia study showed that the nation added only 67,000 new users since 2008, as opposed to 400,000 in the previous four years, Sumirat said.
"It is good news. It shows that our relentless efforts have helped us in lessening the potential numbers of new drug users. We'll keep pushing to meet our goal for realising Drug-Free ASEAN by 2015," Sumirat said.
"Of course we'll not be able to reach 0%. But if we do nothing about it, we'll see 5.1 million drug users by the end of 2015."
The BNN is implementing last year's three-step presidential decree on national drug strategies, which calls for increased public education on the dangers of drugs, more and better treatment services, and continued work to root out international drug syndicates.
This last step will involve taking into account new international drug syndicates operating over the Internet.
Nana, a 54-year-old housewife whose late husband succumbed to a liver tumour after a lifetime of drug abuse, is concerned about the menace among young people.
"It's getting more dangerous," Nana told Khabar. "Kids can get [drugs] from almost everywhere, including the Internet. Trust me, it will only bring harm to you."
With a teenage son who has just graduated from high school, Nana told Khabar she sometimes feels worried her son will follow in his father's footsteps. So she continually educates him about the dangers of drug use. "He has a better future – he must achieve," she says.
To Meigara Juma, a second-year university student, the proliferation of the Internet in daily life has positive and negative consequences.
"You can order or sell everything over the Internet. But, of course, drug dealers will not sell their stuff on blogs or websites. The transaction must be by email or private messages in public forums. I think police should conduct a regular and continuous investigation [of the Internet] as a part of prevention," he told Khabar.
The Internet has so much that is positive to offer, but drugs are solely negative, Meigara said.
"You can choose other activities for recreation instead of drugs. So for me, I'll say 'no'.

http://www.khabarsoutheastasia.com/en_GB/articles/apwi/articles/features/2012/04/04/feature-03