Ricky Gunawan - War on drugs

In the shadow of Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody crackdown on drugs, Indonesia has been fighting its own war on drugs. Under President Joko Widodo, executions for drug traffickers were resumed and, more recently, researchers have recorded a growing number of fatal police shootings of drug suspects. As in the Philippines, the government’s hard-line stance toward drugs has broad public support, which makes it difficult for proponents of a more humane drug policy to provide effective counter-narratives. So what prompted Jokowi to declare a drug emergency in Indonesia? Have his hard-line policies achieved their intended results? And what is the future for drug policy in Indonesia? In this week’s Talking Indonesia podcast, Dr Dirk Tomsa discusses these issues with Ricky Gunawan, a human rights lawyer and director of LBH Masyarakat, the Community Legal Aid Institute in Jakarta. Photo: Reno Esnir for Antara Foto

Om Podcasten

In the Talking Indonesia podcast, Dr Jemma Purdey, Dr Jacqui Baker, Tito Ambyo and Dr Elisabeth Kramer present an extended interview each fortnight with experts on Indonesian politics, foreign policy, culture, language and more. Find all the Talking Indonesia podcasts and more at the Indonesia at Melbourne blog.