Indonesia having a tough time fighting drug trafficking

The high profile drug cases recently highlight to the world how seriously Indonesia takes drug trafficking. According to an article in the Courier Mail, Indonesia is not only a trans-shipment place for heroin and other drugs, it is also a market.

Since living in Bali I have hardly seen any drugs. I’m always being offered drugs by skanky Indonesians hanging around Jl. Legian and the beach, but no one in my circle of friends used drugs. The young Balinese people I know do not use drugs either and apart from the party scene in nightclubs, I’m not aware of a big drug scene here.

It doesn’t surprise me that heroin flows through Indonesia though. How do you guard a 3,000 coastline, with inadequate man power and resources? If the US is a leaky sieve for drugs, Indonesia is a bottomless bucket. SE Asia struggles with the fact that so much drugs is made here. Heroin and methamphetamine (shabu shabu) come from Burma / Thailand and there have been some huge ecstasy factories busted in the Jakarta area. My suggestion is for the Indonesian customs to get a squad of drug sniffing dogs at airports and seaports, that would be a low cost deterrent.