`Smoking ban enforcement still in the air'

March 17, p. 9   |  Fri, 03/27/2009 2:14 PM  |  Reader's Forum

Smoking in public places: A public order officer shows a cigarette confiscated from a smoker during a raid at Blok M bus station in South Jakarta recently. With a bylaw issued in 2005, the Jakarta city administration prohibits people from smoking in public places. (JP/Ricky Yudhistira)

The bylaws banning smoking in certain areas have yet to be enforced, as the city administration once again puts off plans to impose sanctions on violators. Governor Fauzi Bowo said Monday the administration was still discussing the implementation of the 2005 bylaws on air control and designated nonsmoking areas with stakeholders, such as antismoking NGOs, building managements, as well as the association of retailers. He said the Jakarta Environmental Management Board (BPLHD) would target all smokers violating the bylaws and impose sanctions on them. "We will enact the laws with the prosecutor's office. We will take appropriate measures and start some kind of operasi yustisi. Hopefully, the raids will start soon after this year's general elections," said Fauzi at the City Hall.

Your comments:

Smoking, according to a smoker like myself, can sometimes help relieve problems and worries; otherwise we can get headaches, are unfocused or even out of control. And most ordinary people, facing the economic slump today, like to escape from their daily burdens by smoking.

That's a fact of life. If the government rushes to enact laws without considering the mass psychological effect, there will be great anger among the grassroots, and this anger will eventually spill over into dangerous riots. On the other hand, they have no proof of how dangerous smoking can be to their health.

So be careful, especially in Indonesia today, when enacting laws without considering and studying all aspects. Riots that stem from the anger of ordinary people are more dangerous than the ban itself.

Murtadho

Murtadho, what a funny satire you wrote. I haven't chuckled that hard since last time I saw actors in a Sinetron (a TV serial) trying to act. But, just in case you are serious: Firsthand and secondhand smoke is major risk factor for cancer, emphysema, strokes and heart attacks.

I am all for people taking responsibility for their own lives, so if you want to burden yourself and your family members with your future ailments from those diseases, go right ahead.

I am sure the pain of cancer or a heart attack is just another price you are willing to pay for helping relieve yourself from the harsh realities of life. But secondhand smoke is another thing.

It is never acceptable, as far as secondhand smoke is concerned, to impose the burden on others. Does that co-worker, who never smoked in his/her life, want to spend a lot of their money dealing with a cancer that was not their fault? Does the mother and her children, sitting around waiting for a bus, deserve a future with the risk of a stroke?

Seriously, banning smoking in most public places is not about making people angry or stressing them out, it is about you smokers being responsible to people not like you, who don't want to take the risk of getting life-threatening diseases. Grow up and be a responsible citizen.

Arbiter

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