After what happened on the night of Nov. 8, 11-year-old John Ryan and his nine siblings are spending their first Christmas as orphans.

They were all asleep when armed men barged into their shanty at the Market 3 area of the Navotas Fish Port Complex and grabbed Joaquin Garbo. The siblings saw how their father was dragged out of the house while still in his underwear.

John Ryan's mother and eldest sister, aged 17, immediately went to the Station Anti-illegal Drugs (SAID) unit of the Navotas police, but the officer who faced them said Garbo wasn't there.

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JAKARTA, Indonesia - I.B. Agung Partha foresees an apocalypse, as he put it, on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

The threat is not a plague of locusts, nor one of Bali's dormant volcanos springing to life. It is in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital several hundred miles away, where Parliament is debating legislation that would ban beer, wine and spirits across the thousands of islands that make up this country.

For Bali, whose beaches, lush landscapes and cultural attractions drew four million visitors last year, the effect would be something like the end of the world, said Mr. Partha, the chairman of the Bali Tourism Board.

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Ciliclap, Indonesia - INDONESIA executed four drug convicts yesterday but 10 others due to face the firing squad were given an apparent reprieve in a confused process one lawyer condemned as a "complete mess".

The executions on a remote prison island went ahead despite strong protests from international rights groups, UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon and the European Union who had urged Indonesia not to proceed.

Four inmates - three Nigerians and one Indonesian - were put to death just after midnight. One of the Nigerian prisoners was cremated hours later, while the bodies of the three others were being prepared for burial.

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The Indonesian government said it had executed four drug traffickers, giving a reprieve of uncertain duration to 10 others who it had said would also be put to death. Deputy Attorney General Noor Rachmad said one Indonesian and three Nigerians were executed by firing squad. He said the government has not decided when the other executions will take place. It is the third set of executions under President Joko Widodo, who was elected in 2014.

- - From news services

[end]

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia on Friday executed three foreigners and an Indonesian convicted of drug crimes, an official said, as the country resumed a "war on drugs" that drew international condemnation last year after two mass executions of foreign drug convicts.

The official, Deputy Attorney General Noor Rachmad, said that the Indonesian convict, two Nigerians and a Senegalese were executed by firing squad shortly after midnight.

Mr. Rachmad said a decision had not yet been made about when 10 others convicted of drug crimes and sentenced to death, mostly foreigners, would be executed.

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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has been urged to cancel the planned executions of drug convicts and review his capital punishment policy as authorities prepare for executions on Nusakambangan prison island, Cilacap, Central Java.

Pakistani Zulfiqar Ali, one of the death row convicts, was transferred on Monday to a secluded prison on the island from a nearby hospital, where he had been treated for cirrhosis since May.

Zulfiqar, 52, was picked up from the hospital at around 11 a.m. to be put in an isolated cell ahead of the third round of executions expected to take place this week.

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Indonesia may have felt proud when its delegation was chosen to represent 16 like-minded countries at a UN General Assembly Special Session on the world drug problem at the UN headquarters in New York last April.

For Indonesia, its selection to read a joint statement on behalf of countries that maintain the death penalty showcased trust from others in its persistence to keep capital punishment intact. But Indonesian representatives to the UN forum received boos from many among the 193 delegations attending the session. The jeers sent a message of derision for defending the death penalty as "an important component of drug control policy".

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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has frequently expressed his intense anger with drug dealers, even to the extent of executing some of them. When speaking at the International Day Against Drugs on Sunday he proposed a new approach that could rival the actions of his Philippines counterpart Rodrigo Duterte.

But just as capital punishment has not defeated the scourge of drug abuse in the country so Jokowi should never try to go that far, let alone consider breaking the rules.

"Chase them, beat them, hit them. If the law permits, shoot them." Luckily the law does not permit such measures, he added. Nevertheless that's the President's punch line, which might represent the wish of the majority of Indonesian people, particularly parents who have sacrificed all they have to save their children from addiction.

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Jokowi reinforces hard-line stance on drugs as more executions to take place Rights groups find irregularities in drug-related death row cases

As a third round of executions nears, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo commemorating the UN's International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on Sunday, took the moment to bolster his tough stance on traffickers.

In a fiery appeal, Jokowi instructed the National Police and the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) to pursue, arrest and "smash" small-, medium-or big-time drug dealers operating in the country and even "shoot them on sight if existing law allowed it", to tell the world that Indonesia was serious in its fight against drugs.

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The World Health Organization defines addiction or dependency as a complex health condition that often requires long-term treatment and care. Sadly, that is the case with Indonesia's policy on drug crimes.

To address the global problem of drugs, world leaders and activists gathered on April 19-21 at the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs in New York. Most countries represented moved from criminalization to decriminalization for personal possession or use. Some opted to regulate drug markets for certain types of drugs, mostly marijuana. Almost all delegates from the EU, Latin America, UN organizations and the special rapporteurs against torture and the right to health agreed to abolish the death penalty for drug offenders.

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The Medan District Court on Wednesday decided on capital punishment for four Indonesians convicted of smuggling 270 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine from Malaysia to North Sumatra.

The four defendants are businessmen Ayau and Daud, alias Athiam, from Bengkalis, Riau, Lukmansyah, a security guard in Dumai, Riau, and Jimmy Syahputra, a resident of Deli Serdang, North Sumatra.

The panel of judges found that they violated the Narcotics Law, which carries a maximum penalty of death for traffickers.

"The defendants are proven to have conspired to traffic narcotics. With all the evidence, the judges rejected their defence and ordered the death penalty," said presiding judge Asmar while reading out the verdict on Wednesday night.

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INDONESIAN police have set up "several" firing squads ready for deployment to a notorious prison island as the country finalises preparations for a fresh wave of executions of drug smugglers.

Two British death row inmates, including grandmother Lindsay Sandiford (59), could be among the next batch of prisoners tied to a stake and executed. Commander Aloys Darmanto, the Central Java police spokesman, said yesterday the provincial mobile brigade unit has established several firing squads to be sent when needed to Nusakambangan prison island.

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It is still fresh in the memory when the Indonesian public witnessed fellow citizens holding hands in solidarity to ask the government to spare the lives of drugs traffickers months before the execution last year.

The calls grew louder approaching the execution date of April 29, especially following the revelation of the convicts' identities.

Leaders of Australia, France and the Philippines urged Indonesia to save their citizens from capital punishment. But no such actions are seen today, since the government has kept the plan below the radar.

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JAKARTA - Indonesia said it would resume executions of drug traffickers this year, after a brief hiatus since last year's controversial executions of mostly foreign convicts.

Attorney-General H.M. Prasetyo told reporters yesterday that "more than one" person would be executed for drug offences this year and that foreigners were also on the list.

"We will not stop. We will step up the war on drugs," Prasetyo said.

Indonesia executed 14 convicts, including nationals of Australia, Brazil, the Netherlands and Nigeria, by firing squad last year despite repeated pleas for mercy from foreign governments and international organisations and activists.

Amid international outrage, Indonesia postponed other scheduled executions.

- - Reuters

[end]

The South Sulawesi Wirabuana Military Command proposed on Thursday that the Army chief of staff dismiss Makassar Military commander Col. Inf. Jefri Oktavian Rotti for consuming drugs.

"We have recommended his dismissal and for his successor to be inaugurated soon," Wirabuana Military Commander Maj. Gen. Agus Surya Bakti said.

Jefri was arrested while allegedly consuming drugs with the head of the operations command and control center, Lt. Col. Budi Iman Santoso, and five civilians at a hotel in Makassar on Wednesday.

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The recent arrest of a number of soldiers, a police officer and a lawmaker for drug possession constitutes an achievement for the team involved and as well as a nightmare for the nation. The number of police and military personnel who were caught is an indication of the strong grip drug syndicates have on those institutions.

It is regrettable that law enforcers who should be fighting drug trafficking and soldiers who are given the duty of protecting the nation were involved in drug crimes.

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Indonesia uses faulty statistics to justify rights violations in drug crimes. A group of worldwide social organizations has sent a letter to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC) to urge the removal of its support for the methodologically defective data produced by the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), which it intends to use to increase punitive measures after declaring a national drug emergency. Antara/Agung Rajasa Major haul: Finance Minister Bambang Bodjonegoro (center), accompanied by National Narcotics Agency (BNN) head Comr. Gen, Budi Waseso (right) and customs and excise director general Heru Pambudi, briefs the press at the BNN building recently following the confiscation of 270 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine in Medan, North Sumatra, and Dumai, Riau.

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The newly inaugurated National Narcotics Agency (BNN) chief Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso continues to make controversy. Soon after his inauguration, Budi said that he would review all laws related to drugs. He even said that he would send all drug users to prison, instead of making them undergo rehabilitation programs as mandated by the current law on narcotics.

Budi also claimed that fighting drugs should include reviewing related laws, since imperfect regulations were an obstacle for BNN in performing its duties. Budi announced that he would propose a revision to Law No. 35/2009 on Narcotics, especially Article 54, which states that social and medical rehabilitation must be provided to drug addicts and victims of drug abuse.

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Seven Foreigners Are Among Drug Convicts Killed. a Filipina Is Spared for Now.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Ignoring international pressure and heart-wrenching last-minute family pleas for clemency, Indonesia executed eight men on drug charges early Wednesday, Indonesian news media reported.

However, authorities said they had spared for now a female prisoner from the Philippines who had been scheduled to die.

Officials did not release an immediate statement confirming the executions of seven foreigners and an Indonesian. News reports cited unnamed officials, and Amnesty International said it had received confirmation of the executions. The Brazilian Foreign Ministry said its one citizen among the condemned had been put to death.

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JAKARTA, Indonesia - Two are young Australians portrayed back home as generally good lads. One is a Brazilian who is mentally ill. There are four Nigerian men, a female migrant worker from the Philippines and an Indonesian laborer.

They come from diverse backgrounds and circumstances, but all nine were convicted of drug crimes in Indonesia. And all are scheduled to die soon in a mass execution on a remote island off the southern coast of Java.

In what is believed will be the largest such execution in Indonesia in decades, firing squads could start the job as early as 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday.

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