In the shadow of Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody crackdown on drugs, Indonesia has been fighting its own war on drugs. Under President Joko Widodo, executions for drug traffickers were resumed and, more recently, researchers have recorded a growing number of fatal police shootings of drug suspects. As in the Philippines, the government’s hard-line stance toward drugs has broad public support, which makes it difficult for proponents of a more humane drug policy to provide effective counter-narratives. What prompted Jokowi to declare a drug emergency in Indonesia? Have his hard-line policies achieved their intended results? And what is the future for drug policy in Indonesia?
In this week’s Talking Indonesia podcast, Dr Dirk Tomsa discusses these issues with Ricky Gunawan, a human rights lawyer and director of the Community Legal Aid Institute (LBH Masyarakat) in Jakarta.
In 2017, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Dave McRae from the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute, Dr Jemma Purdey from Monash University, Dr Charlotte Setijadi from the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore and Dr Dirk Tomsa from La Trobe University.
Look out for a new Talking Indonesia podcast every fortnight. Catch up on previous episodes here, subscribe via iTunes or listen via your favourite podcasting app.
Photo by Reno Esnir for Antara.
