TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle faction, Henry Yosodiningrat, said the revision of Law Number 35 of 2009 with regard to narcotics is needed. He expected it will strengthen the role of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) in combating drug-related crimes.

"The Narcotics Law consists of 155 articles, and only 37 articles that give authority to the BNN. The rest regulates the authority of the POM and the Ministry of Health," Yosodiningrat said in a discussion of four pillars of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) titled "Narcotics and Destruction of NKRI (Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia) Sovereignty" at the Parliament Complex, Jakarta, on Friday.

He said that in the future, the role of the BNN must be emphasized whether it is in the efforts to prevent or to eradicate narcotics. According to him, prevention is not only restricted to the points of entry of drug trafficking, as there are thousands of tricks used while trafficking.

"Our entrances are thousands, our beaches span across almost one hundred thousand kilometers, we have many conventional ports, and the moral commitment from our law enforcers is lacking. Prevention from the entry point will not be possible due to many forms of drug trafficking," he said.

Read also: Democrat Party`s Andi Arief to Undergo BNN Drug Rehabilitation

If you want to prevent it, it must be from the country of origin or a special field in the BNN to deal with the problem, he said. According to him, at the BNN, there is a National Police, but what must be highlighted is an institution that is "scary" and does not compromise on narcotics.

"We should have the head of the BNN who is 'crazy' because we have done it; one has yet to imitate the data-style of the government of Philippines in combating narcotics," he said.

He said the Narcotics Law is currently not included in the National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) as a priority even though such a step is needed to speed up the revision process. Yosodiningrat said that he was trying to revise the Narcotics Law into Priority Prolegnas, but it always failed, and he even wrote a letter to the President to issue a Government Regulation in lieu of the Law (Perppu).

"I once wrote a letter to the President asking that the issuance of the Perppu be sufficiently justified. Currently, there is an emergency with regard to narcotics, and the existing legislation is not sufficient to deal with the urgent situation," he said.

In the discussion, former BNN Head of Public Relations Sr. Comr. Sulistiandriatmoko said President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) had stressed that Indonesia was facing a drug emergency and concrete steps must be taken.

He considered that if it is already in a state of emergency, a budget, task force, methods, and how to work specifically to resolve the urgent situation are needed.

"Based on the 2017 survey, there were 3.3 million drug users in Indonesia, and it emerged as a big market for dealers, as there were 1,001 ways they brought drugs into Indonesia," he said.

According to him, Indonesia has already become a big market for drug traffickers so extra action is needed, not just ordinary steps.

"The process of rehabilitation of drug users that can be done in a year is only 14,000 people; with the number of users reaching 3.3 million, it will take many years to solve the problem," he said.

ANTARA