VP: War Against Drugs Required Cooperation at National, International Levels

Vice President Ma’ruf Amin attends the virtual Commemoration of 2021 International Day Against Drugs Abuse (HANI), Monday (28/6). (Photo by: Office of Deputy for Protocol, Press, and Media Affairs of the Vice Presidential Secretariat)

The strategic synergy at regional, national, and international levels towards drug eradication is pivotal to tackle drug abuse faced by many countries, Vice President Ma’ruf Amin has said.

According to the World Drug Report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Thursday (24/6), around 275 million people have used drugs worldwide last year. The global trend is likely to rise at 11 percent until 2030.

“The war on drugs takes synergy and cooperation in investigative operations, information exchange, and joint operations at the regional, national, and international levels,” the Vice President said at the Commemoration of 2021 International Day Against Drug Abuse (HANI), via video conference, Monday (28/6).

During the event adopting the theme “the War on Drugs in the Era of COVID-19 Pandemic Towards a Drug-Clean Indonesia”, Ma’ruf said that most of the illicit drugs came from abroad that are smuggled and controlled by international syndicates in cooperation with domestic syndicates. For that reason, strict legal action is imperative to prevent the operation of drug trafficking in a country or across countries.

“A strict, firm, and measurable action through enforcement efforts is crucial to fight against narcotics case and the Crime of Money Laundering (TPPU). In addition, confiscation of assets to impoverish the perpetrators and drug syndicates also serves as a way to prevent the production and distribution of drugs from operating again,” he said.

Regarding law enforcement in Indonesia, Ma’ruf underscored a number of regulations, including Law Number 35 of 2009 on Narcotics, and Presidential Instruction Number 2 of 2020 on the National Action Plan for the Prevention and Eradication of Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Traffic in Narcotics and Narcotics Precursors 2020-2024 (RAN P4GN). The regulations serve as a form of the Government’s commitment to carry out the constitutional mandate in order to protect the entire Indonesian nation and the entire homeland of Indonesia.

On that occasion, the Vice President also appealed that these regulations should be implemented optimally. In addition to requiring collaboration from Ministries, Institutions, regional governments, it also needs active participation from all components of Indonesian community .

“We need to build and invest in superior human resources by increasing community participation in the RAN P4GN. The goal is to prevent people from abusing narcotics, so that a healthy, intelligent, productive, competitive, national-minded and noble Indonesian people can be realized,” he appealed.

In line with the increase in community participation, Ma’ruf assessed that rural communities have great potential and strength in fighting drugs together. He further said that to optimize this potential, villages with a conducive, safe, and appropriate environment are essential for the community to be active and creative, especially to meet the needs of families to raise children who are the future of the nation.

Therefore, the Vice President also inaugurated the Desa Bersinar (Shining Village/drug-clean village) program launched by the National Anti-Narcotics Agency (BNN).

“In regards to the continuous program in the effort to implement the RAN P4GN, today, by saying bismillahirrahmanirrahim, I officially launch the Drug-Clean Village Program or Desa Bersinar  Towards a Drug-Clean Indonesia or Shining Indonesia,” Ma’ruf said.

At the end of his remarks, the Vice President also order the BNN as the leading sector in the P4GN to take strategic measures in strengthening family resilience interventions, namely intervening in drug-hazard areas to become drug-clean areas, improving the provision of rehabilitation services through intervention-based community, as well as strengthening and expanding the network of cooperation in the prevention and eradication of narcotics at the domestic and international levels.

“May Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, the One Almighty God, always give His guidance and bless all the efforts we make for the good of Indonesia,” he concluded.

Echoing a similar sentiment, Head of BNN Petrus Reinhard Golose reported that the agency has made three strategic measures in optimizing the P4GN, including the soft power approach in the form of prevention activities, the hard power approach in the form of firm and measurable law enforcement, and the smart power approach in the form of optimizing the use of information technology to eradicate narcotics.

“As a form of synergy by emphasizing the implementation of the Action Plan for Ministries, Institutions and Regional Governments, the BNN has carried out its duties through strategic measures,” Petrus said. (Office of Deputy for Protocol, Press, and Media Affairs of the Vice Presidential Secretariat/UN) (RIF/LW)

 Visit the official website of Office of Deputy for Protocol, Press, and Media Affairs of the VicePresidential Secretariat through this link.