Indonesian President Orders Officers to Shoot Drug Traffickers. The president of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, has given the police orders to dispel drug traffickers without pardon. The president spoke of an emergency.
“Be firm, especially against foreign drug criminals entering the country and opposing arrest. Shoot them down, because we are now getting some drugs in an emergency,” said Widodo in a speech.
The drug laws in Indonesia have been stringent for years. Widodo takes a lot of criticism at home and abroad because of his efforts to make death sentences for drug traffickers effective.
Widodo’s instructions to kill drug dealers come a week after the police had shot a Taiwanese near Jakarta. The man was part of a gang that smuggled a ton of ‘crystal meth’ into the country.
National police chief Tito Karnavian said that he had pushed his agents not to hesitate and fight drug traffickers if they opposed their arrest.
Widodo seems to follow the footsteps of his Philippine official Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte opened a bloody hunt for drug criminals a year ago. Numerous drug traffickers and people suspected to be killed were killed.