Role model

Since the start of the year, at least 60 drug suspects have been killed by police – not in the Philippines, but in Indonesia. This is in stark contrast to the 18 drug killings in that country for the entire 2016, according to Amnesty International, which expressed concern over the spike in the executions mostly around the capital Jakarta and on the island of Sumatra, said to be a drug trafficking center.

Like in the Philippines, Indonesian police said most of the killings were done in self-defense against suspects who resisted arrest.

Indonesia’s national police chief Tito Karnavian has acknowledged that President Duterte’s ruthless war against illegal drugs is a good example of how to make drug dealers “go away.”

A slight difference in the two campaigns is that Duterte’s Indonesian counterpart (and newfound friend) Joko Widodo has made special mention of foreigners. “Be firm, especially to foreign drug dealers who enter the country and resist arrest,” Widodo or Jokowi instructed the police in a speech last July in Jakarta. “Enough, just shoot them. Be merciless.”

Civil libertarians should worry that Widodo might be just the first among the region’s leaders who see Duterte’s merciless war on drugs and criminality as a model worth emulating, and launch similar bloody crackdowns.

* * * The law enforcement short cut is appealing particularly in countries where the justice system leaves much to be desired.

Indonesia imposes capital punishment for drug trafficking and several other crimes such as terrorism, and has conducted numerous state executions of both foreigners and locals convicted of drug offenses.

But judicial cases can also drag on for years in Indonesia. This is generally favorable for convicts, who have avenues for appeal that can earn them either presidential leniency or outright acquittal.

Filipina migrant worker Mary Jane Veloso is one of about 90 convicts on Indonesia’s death row for drug trafficking. Upon the request of the Philippine government and pending an appeal, Widodo granted a stay of execution on a night in April 2015 when Indonesia executed eight drug traffickers: a local dealer plus four Nigerians, two Australians and a Brazilian. Widodo reportedly considers the drug problem a national emergency.

It’s hard to say which one has a worse drug problem, Indonesia or the Philippines. Indonesia lies closer to Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle, the opium-producing mountain areas of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. But our borders are so porous that all types of contraband can be smuggled easily, from drugs and guns to luxury cars and motorcycles. Those with connections can even bring in 604 kilos of shabu through the Port of Manila, thanks to crooks in the Bureau of Customs.

* * * Long before Dirty Rody came along, there was Thailand’s Thaksin Shinawatra, but his kill record pales in comparison to Duterte’s: 2,637 gunned down by police from February to April 2003, or an average daily toll of three, with 68 officially declared to be cases of police acting in self-defense.

Duterte gave himself six months to rid the country of drugs; Thaksin’s self-imposed deadline to rid “every square inch of the country” of the drug menace was three months. Like Oplan Tokhang, a list of drug suspects, which eventually included 329,000 names, was drawn up by the Thai police. Like Tokhang, some of those killed were drug users and pushers who registered and identified themselves. But names were also supplied by village chiefs and the Office of the Narcotics Control Board.

As in Tokhang, many of the Thai killings were attributed to vigilantes out to exact revenge on or to silence potential stool pigeons – killings that were meant to “cut and remove.” Many of those killed also had prohibited pills called Ya Ba in their possession when the bodies were found.

Ya Ba is the equivalent of shabu in Thailand. The pills contain methamphetamine usually mixed with caffeine.

Recently I asked Thai journalists who are no fans of Thaksin and his sister Yingluck, the former prime minister who has reportedly joined him in Dubai to avoid prosecution in Bangkok, whether Shinawatra’s harsh crackdown reduced the drug menace. They grudgingly conceded that it did – but only for a while.

The drug problem, the journalists stressed, inevitably returned, thanks to the irresistible lure of enormous drug profits plus sustained demand. As President Duterte himself has admitted, he can’t permanently lick the drug problem.

* * * What can governments do? The Thais, who feared a return of the vicious crackdown when Yingluck became prime minister, are trying something novel in this region: Ya Ba might be legalized.

Legalization is also a path being explored by Latin American countries, which are among the largest global suppliers of cocaine. In the United States and Europe, the legalization of marijuana is spreading.

Duterte, who has admitted suffering from chronic pain due to a motorcycle accident and his current ailments, has expressed openness to the legalization of medical marijuana. We don’t know if his doctor has succeeded in taking him off the painkiller Fentanyl, whose use is now tightly regulated in the US because of its potential to cause death.

As for shabu, Duterte might not be open to its legalization since he believes, not without basis, that it fries the brain and induces violent criminal behavior.

Where does that leave his campaign? As he stressed yesterday, the war on drugs will continue. He said his instruction to his anti-narcotics cops, despite recent cases of abuse, is, “Continue with your work; confront the criminals.”

Other Asian leaders are watching closely, and may emulate the role model.