BTW
Anything’s better
than bullets
EXCLUSIVE: Rio de Janeiro, today, 2017: President Joko [Jokowi] Widodo is to be nominated
for the Nobel Prize for international leadership in developing new ways to handle
the drug scourge.
The recommendation, which has yet to be officially
announced, has been unanimously endorsed by the 22 heads of the Brazil-based Global
Commission on Drug Policy (GCDP)
The Jakarta Post has
obtained the statement which will accompany the announcement. This says that two years ago when
President Jokowi opened his campaign to kill the drug trade, few believed he could
persuade other nations that capital punishment was not the answer to trafficking
and pushers.
The fact that more than 50 countries have since followed
Indonesia makes President Jokowi an appropriate recipient, the statement
continues.
Palace insiders claim the President’s epiphany followed a
meeting with Virgin Airlines founder Sir Richard Branson.
Earlier appeals by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to
stay the execution of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran had apparently hardened
the President’s resolve.
“The pleas angered the President,” said a senior aide
speaking on condition of anonymity as he was unauthorized to comment.
“He reckoned Mr Abbott cared only for his two citizens, and
not all those on death row or our 4.5 million addicts – that’s about the
population of Sydney.
“With scores dying every day the electorate demanded
decisive action. Mr Abbott offered no solutions. When he linked mercy to the
2004 tsunami aid Mr Jokowi turned off his phone. He’s a man who reacts to
reason, not pressure.
“Sir Richard is a tough businessman, not a parochial
politician. He thinks laterally and
invited the President to lead the world by finding new ways to tackle drugs.”
Palace sources confirmed a secret meeting had been held
where the mega millionaire, who is a board member of the GCDP, offered
well-researched facts from Commission archives.
Contacts present at the two-hour closed-door forum revealed that
Sir Richard said that shortly before the Bali Nine smugglers were caught
Indonesia had already executed three foreign drug traffickers. This was widely known yet the Australians
still went ahead; this fact made nonsense of the deterrent theory.
GCDP analysts had shown that addicts and mules are damaged
people in hopeless financial and personal situations, unable to make sane
choices. They take risks whatever the
punishment because every option is dreadful. All believe they’re too smart to get caught.
The GCDP offered to fund a review led by Indonesian
criminologists into the effectiveness of capital punishment as a deterrent and
the government agreed to a moratorium.
The 178 page document is expected to be presented at a
glittering event in the Presidential Palace next month. The buzz says Oprah
Winfrey may be a guest.
Last night in London Sir Richard praised the Indonesian
President as a man of courage and foresight. “I remember way back in 2015
thinking he was a stubborn guy, a foreigner to facts,” Sir Richard said.
“What some considered
intransigence was, in fact, a mask for the admirable Javanese traits of
compassion and deep thinking. I told him ‘let’s kill the trade, not the traders’.
Anything’s better than bullets.”
The entrepreneur stayed tight-lipped on the report’s 17
recommendations. These are expected to include substituting long jail time for
the death penalty and shorter spells for reformers who’ve expressed real
remorse.
It’s no secret that there’ll be an International Center for the
Prevention of Drug Trading at the University of Gadjah Mada; modern clinics in
every province will help rehabilitate users.
A No Demand – No
Supply social media campaign targeting drugs using teenspeak and. featuring
celebs rather than uniformed government bosses will be launched.
Cash for these initiatives will come from a ten per cent
levy on every packet of smokes sold.
A Palace spokesman refused to confirm or deny the report. “Let’s
just wait and see,” he said.
However former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that
if the story was true a Nobel Prize nomination was a great privilege. He added:
“However the real honor belongs to the Indonesian people who
have backed the President’s noble journey to make Indonesia a world leader in stamping
out the drug trade while protecting human rights.” Duncan Graham
(First published in The Jakarta Post 12 April 2015)
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