Jakarta (The Jakarta Post/ANN) - For some, the drama surrounding the accusations of drug possession by former president Soeharto's great-granddaughter, Putri Ariyanti, ended in an anticlimax as the South Jakarta District Court sent her to a rehabilitation program instead of prison.
Those accustomed to corrupt practices in the legal system, coupled with memories of the old Indonesia under the rule of Soeharto, were suspicious of the court, which issued the verdict on Wednesday.
Contrary to such doubts, presiding judge Maman M. Ambari said the decision was based on a new paradigm in battling the spread of illegal drug use. Based on the 2009 Narcotics Law, drug addicts should be placed in rehabilitation centers instead of prisons. Maman said the court deemed Putri a victim of drug addiction and sentenced her to one year of rehabilitation.
"The verdict is also in accordance with the principle of legal sentences, which is to educate the defendant," Maman said.
National Narcotics Agency (BNN) spokesperson Sumirat Dwiyanto agreed that drug addicts and victims of narcotics abuse should be rehabilitated instead of incarcerated.
"Imprisonment only cuts them off from society, but it does not mean that they have recovered from their addictions. Most cases show [drug convicts] will continue to use narcotics when they are freed from prison. It means the demand for narcotics persists," he said.
Sumirat said that, based on the new law, the Supreme Court issued a letter in 2010 regarding guidelines for putting drug addicts in rehabilitation centers. The letter, Sumirat said, stated that drug addicts should be diagnosed by doctors and psychiatrists who were experts on drug addiction.
The letter also sets maximum amounts of narcotics a convict may possess and still be eligible for rehabilitation, at 1 gram of crystal methamphetamine, 2.4 grams of ecstasy, 1.8 grams of heroine and cocaine and 5 grams of marijuana, among others. Putri was found in a possession of 0.8 grams of crystal meth and a bong.
Putri's father, Ari "Sigit" Haryo Wibowo, who was notorious for his drug-riddled parties in the 1990s, expressed a similar sentiment. "Rehabilitation is indeed the most appropriate sentence for drug abuse," he said.
Sumirat acknowledged that the new paradigm on fighting drug abuse was yet to be fully adopted by all courts and was still unfamiliar to the public. Thus, addicts were still receiving prison sentences.
Heru Widarsah, an activist from the NGO People Infected with HIV Network, acknowledged the problem, saying that the implementation of the new paradigm was not easy, especially in small, rural towns.
"The new narcotics law is a work in progress. Addicts are no longer criminalized; they are considered victims. Sadly, the implementation has yet to reach all parts of the country," Heru said.
He further highlighted the lack of infrastructure to support the new policy in less-developed places. "Not all people can defend their cases by presenting an expert witness," he said
Speaking to the press after the trial, Putri said she was thankful. "The most important thing is that I won't go to prison," she said.
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