JP/ARIEF SUHARDIMAN

JAKARTA: Rock band Nidji is in trouble: The National Commission for Child Protection has sent them an open letter complaining about the band’s involvement in a cigarette ad on TV.

“Nidji’s involvement in the cigarette ad has indirectly called Indonesian children to smoking,” the commission wrote.

The commission warned that Indonesia ranks third highest in the world for aggregate levels of tobacco consumption, with the number of children smokers growing each year.

The commission’s letter quoted findings by the Central Statistics Agency that the number of teenagers who smoke (aged 15 to 19) had increased by 144 percent from 1995 to 2004. It also quoted a 2004 study that found smoking had led to the deaths of 427,948 people in 2001 alone – or 1,172 people every day.

When contacted by The Jakarta Post, Nidji vocalist Giring declined to comment, saying that the band’s manager would comment on the matter shortly.

The commission argues that aggressive marketing by tobacco companies has contributed to the rising number of teenager smokers.

“Cigarette companies package the killing product through various advertisements associated with the teen lifestyle, and the teenagers’ idols are particularly drawn into the sponsors’ entertainment programs.

“For the sake of children and for the protection of their rights to life, grow and develop, we call on Nidji to reconsider their involvement as the model in the advert,” read the letter, which was signed by the commission chairman Seto Mulyadi and secretary-general Arist Merdeka Sirait. –JP

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