Army Special Forces Commander Calls on Members to Fight Narcotic Drugs

Jakarta (Antara) - Army special forces (Kopassus) commander Major General Doni Monardo has called on all members to fight narcotic drug abuse that could harm the country\'s younger generation. \"Kopassus is a unit the nation and the state has been proud of and so Kopassus members must be free of narcotics,\" he said here on Tuesday. In connection with that he said Kopassus has conducted a urine test on all members to assure they are clean, in cooperation with the National Anti-Narcotic Agency (BNN) on Monday. \"Thank God, 1300 Kopassus members that have undergone the test all tested negative,\" Doni, who was among the participants, said. The drug test has been done not only Kopassus members but also civil servants working at the Kopassus headquarters. The head of the BNN Jakarta chapter, police Brigadier General Ali Johardi, said he hailed the Kopassus\' move as a strategic move with regard to fighting narcotic crimes. \"The test is aimed at assuring that all Kopassus personnel and civil servants are free of narcotic drugs. I have been invited by the Kopassus commander to conduct tests on his personnel,\" he said. He said he hoped Kopassus would together with BNN participate in overcoming narcotic abuse problems in the country. \"Let us start from ourselves by avoiding ourselves from being involved in narcotic drug use and so hopefully it will help solve the country\'s problem,\" he said. President Joko Widodo has said that the country is facing a drug emergency with an average of 50 deaths due to narcotic abuse occur every day in the country. In view of that he has taken a firm stance against drug crimes including refusing to give a pardon to those sentenced to death over narcotic offenses. Indonesia under his leadership has executed six death drug convicts this year and the AGO plans to execute eight more drug convicts on death row including Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran from Australia. The six other drug convicts to be executed are Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso from the Philippines, Serge Areski Atlaoui from France, Martin Anderson, alias Belo, from Ghana, Indonesia citizen Zainal Abidin, Raheem Agbaje Salami from Cordova, and Rodrigo Gularte from Brazil. (*)