Speaking to thousands of secondary school and university students, the president who was accompanied by Vice President Boediono and chief of the National Narcotic Agency (BNN) Goris Mere, said that the movement to free Indonesia from illegal use of narcotics was launched coinciding with the commemoration of International Anti-Narcotics Day 2011.
"Crimes and narcotic abuses are still a serious threat both to the world and our country," the president said.
According to the head of state, although it has done a lot to stop and prevent narcotics crimes, yet Indonesia still needs to do many other things to assure itself of freedom from the drugs.
"To save us all, I hail the efforts of BNN to fight and prevent abuse of narcotics," the president said.
The head of state was of the view that narcotics crime is a serious and dangerous crime that needs common attention and commitment to preventing and eliminating it.
"Narcotics crime destroys the nation`s younger generations, characters and society and in the long run it will tarnish the nation`s competitiveness," Yudhoyono said.
He also link narcotics crime with other criminal acts such as robbery, theft, money laundering and terrorism.
The head of state viewed that joint commitment is needed because narcotics crimes had strong networks in the global and regional levels.
On the occasion, the president, who together with the vice president were accompanied by First Lady Mrs Ani Yudhoyono and Mrs Herawati Boediono, also signed the Free Narcotics Cover 2015 and put Indonesia Free Narcotics Pins on four prestigious students.(*)
(A014/H-NG/a014)
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
