Murder of U.S. Ambassador in Benghazi Libya on 9/11

HEROIN & OPIUM
Indonesia's Execution Of Drug Traffickers

Indonesia has executed eight convicted drug traffickers, seven of whom were foreign nationals from Australia, Brazil and Nigeria. They were all found guilty as charged and all international pleas for clemency were rejected.

Australia: Using 'Aid' Threats As A Lever In This Matter Was Highly Counterproductive

What surprised me about this incident is that the Australian government spent more effort in its diplomatic attempts to obtain a Presidential clemency than it did explaining to its citizens the dangers of drug trafficking across borders in South East Asia.

The worst mistake made was the extent of the publicity it undertook rather than 'quiet diplomacy' with threats in a semi-hysterical xenophobic Australian media about future foreign aid to Indonesia and linking its NGO and direct government aid work for disaster relief to the outcome of clemency appeals for its nationals in cases of drug trafficking convictions.

For myself, this represented the height of arrogance and an insult to the dignity of Indonesia as a country.

I could continue by discussing the racial strife between White Australians, peoples of color and Australians of the Islamic faith inside Australia itself but such are problems for Australia to resolve independent of this issue in hand. I only mention them because both Brazil and Australia have similar racial strife issues with regard to peoples of different ethnic backgrounds.

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Do You Remember The Opium Wars?^1&2

You Should,Because Even Today Drug Traffickers Have Destroyed Whole Communities, Societies and Countries In The Caribbean, and In Central and In South America

Indonesia has a very serious problem with addiction of its own citizens to hard drugs.

It's not on the same scale as Afghanistan or Mexico, Colombia or Trinidad but it is insidious and destructive to Indonesian communities and families.

If foreigners (sic. European and Australian passport holders) are perceived as 'above the law' this sends the wrong 'message' to Indonesian citizens as they attempt through education and social rehabilitation programs to keep their own local communities 'drugs free'.

Clash of Cultures

It is not uncommon to observe Australians and New Zealanders in particular being highly disrespectful of the culture and traditions of the countries in South East Asia where they find themselves either in temporary residence or on holidays.
For example, being drunk in public in Christendom is very different from being intoxicated in public in a Muslim country - and the penalties can be draconian in some places.
I could give many examples from my own personal observations but that is beside the issue.

[Even though the U.S. is not very well-liked in some parts of the world, I have never seen Americans, as tourists or residents, in public, disrespectful of local people anywhere I have traveled. Since the film Midnight Express, few are crazy enough to traffic narcotics in Muslim lands(!); [please could you note that I am excluding the remarks of the former U.S. Ambassador to India - which were untypical of anything anywhere I ever came across in public.]

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What I can say is that Indonesia and other South East Asia countries have become somewhat tired of lax or conflicting or contradictory attitudes of the West to hard drugs and executions of convicted drugs dealers is one way of sending their own very clear message to the nationals of such countries and their respective governments – that they traffic narcotics at their own risk with no sympathy from the Indonesian authorities if caught and convicted.

Where Our Real Sympathies Should Be

Of course I have sympathy for those executed individuals and their grieving families but having at first hand witnessed the highly destructive, pernicious and soul-destroying effects of addiction to heroin and opium on children, parents, families and communities in a manner that no other activity has, I cannot but think that the Australian government is better served educating its own citizens about the dangers of trafficking drugs in general and in particular out of or into countries which have the death penalty in place for convicted offenders rather than attempt, in essence, to bully South East Asia nations into doing its bidding as was the case on this occasion.

These countries have the death penalty in place for drug trafficking for very good local reasons.

Indonesia has sent a very clear message to Australia and to the rest of the world – which they ignore at their own peril.

©Patrick Emek, 2015

amended version

typographical errors ('its') corrected on 30th April, 2014