I have just returned to Lawas from visiting my constituency and am pleasantly surprised and relieved to learn of the drug arrests and confiscation of properties by the police in Lawas last week.

Ever since I was elected as a people’s representative in 2011, I have repeatedly brought up the problems that drug trafficking and abuse have created in Lawas. The Borneo Post Adventure Team (BAT) also reported extensively on the drug problem in Lawas last year. It is good that the police have started this crackdown as the drug problem is one of the biggest worries for the people of Lawas.

The cost to society of the drug menace is immeasurable and the lives destroyed can never be recovered. I congratulate the police on these arrests and urge them to carry out their investigations speedily. Drug traffickers do not work alone - there is a wide network and the police must follow through to pick up all the others in the trafficking network.

The value of the properties seized was a substantial amount, and I believe from the information I received that one of the suspects so far is one of the big drug pushers in town.

Now that the police have made a significant start in this arrest, I hope it will lead to the very source of this problem. At the same time the people of Lawas should be vigilant and stand together in the fight against this menace.

I am encouraged to note that the churches are doing their best to teach their congregations of this issue. The police and the community must continue to work together so that the people of Lawas can have some confidence about the future of their town and more importantly, hope for the future of their youths.

BARU BIAN is PKR’s Ba’ Kelalan assemblyperson and Sarawak PKR chairperson.