Is Widodo following Duterte’s playbook in war on drugs?
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has given police a shoot-to-kill directive for drug traffickers who resist arrest, but amid the tough rhetoric some experts cast doubt on the extent of the ‘emergency’ facing the country
At the Rumah Singgah Peka drug rehabilitation centre in the highlands of Bogor, about 50km outside of Jakarta, Sam Nugraha sometimes struggles to keep up with incoming clients. His facility, which opened in 2010 and runs on government funds, can accommodate 20 patients, but sometimes as many as 40 pile in and sleep on the floor.
On one hand, for Nugraha, a one-time addict himself, the incoming tide of patients suggests his emphasis on harm reduction is in demand. On the other hand, the surge of methamphetamine addicts seems to herald another police crackdown in a country that is convinced it is in the midst of a drug epidemic.
“We are getting busy, not because people have drug problems, but because they have legal problems,” Nugraha says.
With a mixture of forced rehabilitation, long prison sentences and capital punishment, Indonesia’s government under President Joko Widodo says it is doing all it can to stay afloat in a country awash in drugs.
The rhetoric hit fever pitch last month when Widodo, in a speech to law enforcement officers, urged police to shoot to kill if traffickers – particularly foreign ones – resisted arrest, apparently taking a page from his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte.
