Inter Press Service - July 11, 1999
R Mageswary

But he breaks into a shy smile as he says "hello" to visitors. Ibrahim is a 13-year-old Malay Muslim. He is also a drug addict who got dragged into into habit two years back, because he was "curious to try out drugs". He is not alone, as the use of illegal drugs is a social problem in Malaysia, where its trade is punishable by death.

Recently, by the National Drug Agency (NDA) with the education department conducted urine tests among 32,000 students from 132 schools. The NDA said 1,200 students tested positive for illegal drugs in the preliminary tests.

Official statistics say there are 500,000 drug addicts in this country of 22 million people, more than half of whom are Muslim.

Ibrahim got off the drug habit before it was too late. For three weeks now, he has been in a little picturesque village in Kuala Trengganu, a small town in the east coast of peninsular Malaysia.

There, he is undergoing Islamic therapy with a religious teacher to kick the habit. "I am getting by now," says Ibrahim.

Mohammad Osman Abdul Latif, who started the religious programme to fight drug addiction in 1989, says the institution has cured 4,000 addicts.

Regulations in his centre are demanding. Those in it get up at 4 a.m. to perform their "repentence bath". Says Abdul Latif: "Bathing gives them a zest to face life. They are then able to fight diseases like AIDS better."

While the spread in Malaysia of AIDS and HIV, the virus that causes the full-blown disease, is by no means as bad as countries like Cambodia or Thailand, it is nevertheless of major concern because of the of high HIV prevalence among injecting drug users here.

Malaysia is one among Asian countries, including China and Vietnam, where the sharing of needles for drug use among addicts is a key method of HIV transmission.

In its latest HIV/AIDS update, the Western Pacific office of the World Health Organisation (WHO) says injecting drug users account for some two-thirds of reported HIV cases in Malaysia.

WHO estimates that 45,000 Malaysians aged 15 to 49 have HIV, though it also says the pandemic there appears to be "stabilising". The Malaysian government has spent more than 30 million U.S. dollars to fight AIDS since 1993.

In Abdul Latif's centre, only those who are interested would be sent to the hospital for medical screening. "Too much of modern medicine becomes poison in the stomach," he says.

He adds that Allah had said the water from the sky would strengthen a person's resistance, explaining the logic behind the "repentance bath" and the importance of the will from within to stop the drug habit.

Those at the centre also pray five times a day and recite Koranic verses to give them a "godly sense that will prevent them from getting involved in drugs", he says.

"Such a selfless surrender will refrain them from doing anything evil," Abdul Latif says.

Though medical doctors do not necessarily agree that this approach is enough, Jamal Abdul Nasir swears that it worked for him.

Fifteen months back, he says was a drug dealer who would commit any crime to buy hash. Today, he does not touch drugs.

"My life as an addict was like hell. Sometimes, I get chased by the police and beaten. I stole and exhorted money from people to buy drugs," Nasir confesses, his eyes downcast. "I feel so ashamed to tell you all these," he adds, Nasir recalls that when he set foot in the centre, "My heart opened up to God. During the detoxification period, an energy kept telling me to start praying. It has done me a lot of good."

Abdul Latif says he is keen to implement the centre's technique in the government-run drug rehabilitation centres. Called Pusat Serenti, there is one such centre in every state in the country.

There is an 8 percent relapse rate in the rehabilitation centres, but Abdul Latif claims the relapse rate in his centre is as low as 2 percent.

Meantime, the Malaysian government faces new challenges in the battle against drug addiction.

The National Poisons Centre has expressed concern over the fact that addicts now boldly plant their own cannabis plants. Its director, Dzulkifli Abdul Razak, says cannabis can be easily grown from seeds and need little tending especially in Malaysia's hot climate.

Health officials warn that children who may unknowingly chew the leaves run a high risk of getting addicted over time. Abdul Razak also said there are reports of drug traffickers "spiking" cigarettes with ganja to lure innocent victims to drugs.

Abdul Latif believes that fighting drug addiction should entail not just police or health experts' work, but a spiritual effort as well. "I am sure the Islamic treatment would cut off the addicts from their addiction completely," he says. (END/IPS/ap-he- pr/rm/js/99)
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