The government has publicly announced a plan to incarcerate drug dealers in separate penitentiaries to support its tough campaign against illegal drugs.

The plan was revealed by Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan following a limited Cabinet meeting discussing efforts to optimize the roles of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), as well as two other government institutions on Monday.

'€œIt was agreed [in the meeting] that, in terms of narcotic offenders, there will be a separate prison. It will be isolated so that the inmates are separated from other prisoners,'€ Luhut told a press conference after the meeting at the Presidential Office.

The BNN, Luhut added, would focus more on handling drug dealers, instead of drug users '€” who would be handled by the Social Affairs Ministry and Health Ministry.

Since his inaugration, President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo has reiterated his tough stance on narcotics several times. Declaring the country to be in a '€œnarcotics emergency'€, the President has called for the death penalty for traffickers and rejected clemency pleas for convicts.

Unfazed by protests from human rights campaigners and the international community, the government has carried out the executions of 13 convicts from various nationalities, including two Indonesians.

Yet, drug abuse continues to increase in Indonesia. The current number of drug users has reached 4 million, or around 2 percent of the total population, causing about Rp 63 trillion in economic losses.

Newly inaugurated BNN head Budi Waseso, who also attended the meeting, said drug users must be rehabilitated and '€œmust be separated from drug dealers who are also drug users'€.

A number of drugs distribution rings inside prisons have been uncovered in the country due to a lack of monitoring in penitentiaries.

The existing 2009 Narcotics Law '€” which allows judges to hand down rehabilitation orders rather than jail sentences to drug users and drug-abuse victims '€” is comprehensive enough in its provisions recommending rehabilitation. However, it is yet to generate positive results, as there is no common understanding or approach to implementing the law.

According to Budi, Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H. Laoly was still in the process of selecting the location of the special penitentiary. Plans to build it on a remote island were also on the table, he added.

'€œWe hope it will be completely isolated,'€ Budi added. '€œThere are several prisons being studied. One of them is located around Papua.'€

According to Yasonna, the government was currently wrapping up a special drug convict penitentiary project in Gunung Sindur district in Bogor regency, West Java, to incarcerate drug kingpins and those who controlled drug rings.

'€œAt least this month or early next month [it will be ready]. I will pay a visit there first,'€ Yasonna said.

Budi'€™s predecessor Anang Iskandar earlier revealed a plan to transform four prisons into special penitentiaries for drug offenders in the near future.

Anang has also said that a failure to effectively rehabilitate drug users and impose money laundering charges on drugs traffickers were the primary reasons behind drug businesses being run from prisons.

Budi was optimistic that special penitentiaries for drug convicts would not turn into new safe havens in which drug gangs could run their businesses, saying that drug mafias would be located in different areas inside the special prisons.

Budi said that '€œsimultaneous joint efforts from all related institutions'€ was essential in the fight against drugs.

During an event to mark World Anti-Narcotics Day in June, the President also called for tough penalties for law enforcement officers and public officials who provided protection for drug dealers, as well as increased surveillance at penitentiaries.

Jokowi has also called for the rehabilitation of 100,000 addicts this year.
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