-  Rick Halperin News

Indonesia's Megawati backs death penalty on drugs

Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri on Monday threw her support behind use of the death penalty in the country's efforts to stamp out the illegal drugs trade.

"There is a demand for the death penalty, and I say it is better for one person to experience that rather than have more victims," Megawati said, apparently referring to those who might join the drugs trade against their wishes or be exploited.

"I have asked for the imposition of the heaviest punishment for criminal perpetrators (of drug offenses)," Megawati said in a speech while opening a workshop on drugs prevention.

 She did not specify which offences she believed deserved the death penalty. Drug trafficking already carries the maximum punishment of death in Indonesia, although laws on possession or selling on the streets were unclear.

 Megawati called on government and military officials to work together in combating the selling and production of drugs.

 "Not only has Indonesia become a trafficking country but also a producer country," Megawati said without elaborating on which illegal drugs were being produced in the world's 4th most populous nation.

 A number of foreigners, mainly Africans and Asians, have been caught smuggling heroin and other illegal drugs into Indonesia. Some have been given the death penalty, although precise figures were not immediately available.

 Indonesia in recent years has seen increasing use of drugs such as ecstasy especially among the younger generation in urban areas.