The War on Drugs in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia has a long history of being tough on drug use
Monday, January 29, 2018
While the world’s attention has been focused on the carnage of the Philippine Drug War, which has resulted in an estimated 13,000 deaths from anti-narcotics operations and extrajudicial killings since June 2016, President Duterte’s extreme solution to the country’s drug problem may only be the most conspicuous and controversial in a region with a history of draconian drug laws and anti-drug campaigns. Media reports and human rights monitors have pointed to a worrying surge in the killing and jailing of suspected drug dealers and users in at least two Southeast Asian nations over the past year. Jakarta-based non-profit LBH Masyarakat estimates that the number of extrajudicial killings in Indonesia jumped from 17 in 2016 to nearly 100 last year (official figures put it at 79).