YOGYAKARTA ~

President Joko Widodo has stated that Indonesia is in a state of emergency over drugs, so it has refused to pardon drug convicts on death-row.

“Nearly 40-50 Indonesians die every day due to drug consumption,” the President said during a general lecture at Gadjah Mada University on Tuesday.

Statistics show that Indonesia has an estimated 4.5 million people affected by drug consumption, of whom 1.2 million cannot be rehabilitated due to their poor health conditions, he added.

The President revealed that he received 64 applications for clemency from drug convicts on death-row.

“I do not pardon any of them,” he stressed, adding that his hard stance against death-row drug convicts is intended to serve as a shock therapy. President Jokowi insisted that the government will not pardon heavy drug dealers sentenced to death by the court.

“This crime warrants no forgiveness,” Jokowi said.

According to him, the imposition of a death sentence to drug dealers should be acted on because 64 drug dealers have been sentenced to death so far, but no further action has been taken.

“It has been years and I say it must be decided on immediately,” he emphasized.

Indonesia is in a state of emergency with regard to drug abuse, the president pointed out, adding that the number of drug users had reached 4.5 million, with 1.2 million of them beyond the point of rehabilitation because of the extreme natures of their cases.

“I think we are aware that Indonesia is in a state of emergency with regard to drug use,” he affirmed.

The president is concerned about the increasing number of drug users who die every day. He noted that daily some 40 to 50 young people die due to drug abuse.

In addition, he indicated that drug use had also made its way into government agencies.

“We have to be careful because thousands of tons of drugs enter Indonesia,” Jokowi added.

Meanwhile Vice-President Jusuf Kalla defended President’s decision to reject the clemency petitions of narcotics convicts on death-row and stated that it must not be called human rights violation.

“Narcotics convicts have violated human rights by causing other people’s deaths,” he told newsmen on Wednesday after speaking at a workshop of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

Kalla opposed views that the President’s decision to turn down the clemency petitions of narcotics convicts on death-row will not help reduces narcotics distribution.

He observed that narcotics distribution will spread even wider if it was not stopped now and no action was taken against dealers for a deterrent effect.

The Attorney General’s Office recently said 136 death-row convicts who were on the waiting list for executions were still making legal efforts to free themselves.

“Of the 136 death-row convicts, 64 are involved in drugs-related cases and 72 in non-drug cases, including two terror convicts,” Head of the Legal Information Center of the Attorney General’s Office Tony T Spontana pointed out onThursday.

Six death-row convicts are still at large, he said, adding that a total of 27 death-row convicts have been executed since 2000.

“This year, five death-row convicts will be executed,” he remarked.