Rehab, Not Jail for Lion Air Pilot Caught Getting High on Meth

The Lion Air pilot arrested in Surabaya for consuming methamphetamine was a user and not a pusher, the National Narcotics Agency said on Wednesday, so he will be sent to a rehabilitation center instead of prison.

“The pilot will be taken to a rehab center in Lido [Ciawi, West Java] while waiting for his trial,” said Benny Mamoto, the operating chief at the agency known as the BNN.

According to the Narcotics Law, people caught consuming drugs should be rehabilitated rather than imprisoned, while those smuggling and distributing drugs can face the death penalty.

The pilot, 44-year-old Syaiful Salam, is the second Lion Air employee caught this year consuming drugs. The BNN also arrested Lion Air pilot Hanum Adhyaksa last month in Makassar for consuming meth.

Tengku Burhanuddin, the secretary general of the Indonesia National Air Carriers Association, has said drug use among airline crews had tainted the industry’s image, asking the government to permanently ban pilots caught using illicit drugs by withdrawing their licenses.

In contrast, the Indonesian Pilots Federation said on Wednesday that pilots caught using drugs were victims and their licenses should not be revoked.

“There’s no need to revoke their licenses; just suspend them. [Drug-using pilots] are victims who need to be rehabilitated,” said the federation’s chairman, Hasfrinsyah, adding that pilots needed the maximum two years of rehabilitation.

Hasfrinsyah, himself a pilot, said that with two years of rehabilitation, pilots would miss four required medical checkups and thus need to reapply for a new license.

“But pilots would still have a chance to get their license and work again,” he said. “Whether airlines would hire them is another matter completely.”

Adhy Gunawan, a member of the federation’s honors council, said pilots would plunge deeper into drugs if their licenses were revoked.

But Transportation Minister E.E. Mangindaan said passenger safety should come first, adding that his office wanted tighter regulations and was pushing for pilots caught with drugs to lose their licenses.

“The BNN suggested that medical checkups should be conducted more frequently. There should also be a surprise inspection,” he said.

The ministry, he added, would make flight crews undergo the same security checks as regular passengers.

On Tuesday, a co-pilot failed to pass a drug test in a random check on crew members at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. He was the seventh crew member caught possessing or having consumed drugs since September. Four pilots and two co-pilots have been arrested on drug charges since then.

Deputy Transportation Minister Bambang Susantono said the ministry and the BNN planned to continue random checks to clean the sector of drug users. The pilot federation said its 6,000 members were ready to comply.

“But we want the government to establish regulations on which such tests are based,” Adhy said.

Lion Air president director Edward Sirait claimed on Wednesday that there were no more drug-using pilots at the airline.

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com