Indonesia lowers boom on Bali highs
By Mark Forbes
Indonesia Correspondent, Jakarta
August 27, 2005
THE Bali party crowd migrates north, from the jammed Kuta beach pubs to more upmarket bars of Seminyak, then to the rave dens such as Club 66, a vacant lot before 2am, a pulsating crush soon after.
They dance to the throb of house music before spilling on to the wide sand of Legian beach in the morning sunshine.
It is clubbing season on the island, crammed with holidaying Europeans mingling with wealthy locals, many of whom fly from Jakarta for a couple of decadent nights, and young Australian tourists.
The nightspots are the target of an anti-drugs crackdown that has resulted in more than 250 arrests this year of locals and foreigners alike. A new, fiercely anti-drugs national police chief is backing raids on the top-end clubs of Bali and Jakarta, to applause from politicians, howls from the entertainment industry and disbelief from a public aware that many police get a cut of the action.
The senior commissioner of the National Narcotics Agency, Indradi Tanos, who is
co-ordinating the crackdown, describes drug abuse as a tornado sweeping Indonesia.
AdvertisementAdvertisement
Arrests of local celebrities and Australians such as Michelle Leslie were positive, he said. They sent an anti-drugs message "to the next generation, not only in Australia, but in Indonesia".
Despite the arrests, drugs remain easily available on an island that has always catered to a tourist's every whim.
On a late-night stroll this week past Club 66 — where Sydney model Leslie has now confessed to obtaining the ecstasy that could see her jailed for years — The Age had offers from several young men perched on motorbikes.
"What you want mister, ecstasy, just 150,000 rupiah ($20)?" asked Max, lifting his shirt to show he was not armed. "Look, no police, no police."
Long-time Bali partygoers, such as Australian Shelly, 24, warn that many dealers are undercover officers. She has not been out for a month, after a night of dancing was interrupted by 20 police searching all head to toe.
"It freaked people out, they were running to the toilets to get rid of what they had," she said. "We go out for a good time, not to have the cops shutting the music off for an hour. They should be locking up the people selling it to us, rather than getting us in the clubs."
The raids had put a dampener on the scene, said Shelly. "It definitely puts people off. You are looking for undercover cops. It's not as relaxed as it used to be. That model's arrest is just adding fuel to the fire after the nine Australians and the Schapelle thing."
Others shrug, palming ecstasy pills in return for cash in the dark of the Dju bar down the road from Club 66.
Bali police drug squad chief Bambang Sugiarto says he will do whatever it takes to stamp out the trade, but he denies targeting Australians in the wake of the Schapelle Corby and Bali nine cases. Many other nationalities, and even more locals, were being jailed, with drug arrests nearly quadrupling in the past two years, he said.
"The number of Australian tourists here rank second only to Japan. There are more people and the chance of breaking the law is bigger," Colonel Sugiarto said.
He has had enthusiastic backing from Indonesian police chief Sutanto, a former National Narcotics Agency head, who visited Colonel Sugiarto and his men in Bali this week, welcoming the publicity generated by the Leslie case.
"We can detect whoever comes to Bali so Bali becomes a safe place," General Sutanto said. "We won't let Bali be used by both local and foreign drug users."
Most Australian tourists in Bali agree with Prime Minister John Howard's assessment that taking drugs in Asia was unbelievably dumb.
"I just think, how stupid are you? I don't know how anyone would want to risk something like that after Schapelle," said Kylie Rando. She has been too "buggered" from shopping to do much late-night clubbing but, "I would never go out alone, and always keep my bag close by."
On Thursday night Australian ambassador David Ritchie issued an unusual email warning to Australian travellers and residents.
"While the campaign is not targeting Australians, the crackdown has resulted in Australians being detained and arrested on suspicion of drug-related offences, including for possession of small quantities of recreational drugs," he said.
"I am writing to all Australians registered in Indonesia to urge you not to take chances: purchasing, carrying or taking any drugs into Indonesia is simply not worth the risk. Australians do get caught and the strict penalties in place, which include the death penalty, do apply to foreigners."
In Jakarta, the raids have been even tougher. Nightclub patrons have been forced to take urine tests. Celebrities and actors are among those netted in the 140 positive results.
The Association of Indonesian Entertainment Centre Owners has complained that 40,000 workers have been laid off because the threat of urine tests has scared away customers.
A psychiatrist and adviser to the National Narcotics Agency, Dadang Hawari, believes the crackdown may be too late.
Many young Indonesians smoke marijuana, "while most young executives use ecstasy because the pills are considered more stylish as it is popular among celebrities", he said.
Corrupt police were part of the problem, Professor Hawari said. "It is like the evil circle. It is a complicated social problem. The low-ranking officers who are in the front line of anti-drugs campaign earn only relatively low income, they try and increase it by selling drugs."
Colonel Sugiarto agreed that he was investigating colleagues for "direct or indirect involvement in drug trafficking".
With ecstasy production becoming entrenched in Indonesia, Commissioner Tanos said the Australian Federal Police were supporting the crackdown.
Earlier this year a drug factory an hour from Jakarta, disguised as an Islamic school, was raided. It was producing more than 250,000 ecstasy pills a day. "We have dismantled one international syndicate, but it proved Indonesia is becoming a production country," Commissioner Tanos said.
The Bali nine heroin bust was the tip of the iceberg of drug exportation into Australia, he said. "Australian police are also aware of the trend, so they are trying to use Indonesia as the front line to control it."
Many clubgoers and club owners in Bali believe the raids are like previous operations, to be waited out before business on all sides returns to normal.
But they may be mistaken, given the impetus from Indonesia's new President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
The former general talks of an "all-out war" on drugs and a zero-tolerance policy.
Arriving in Indonesia two months ago I, along with several million other mobile phone users, received a personal SMS from the President.
"Stop drug abuse and drug-related crimes right now," it read. "Let us preserve and build a healthy, smart and progressive nation."
