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hildren remain the victims of tobacco hazards, given the government's failure to enforce the smoke-free areas law, despite already being implemented in some areas of Jakarta and Surabaya.

Many smokers, including children, commonly smoke in public areas, including on public buses, terminals and train stations.

Ten-year-old Rangga, a street busker at Bungurasih Terminal in Surabaya, said he did not care about the smoking ban in public places because he bought cigarettes with his own money.

"I don't buy cigarettes with stolen money, so why should I be forbidden from smoking? I couldn't work if I didn't smoke," he told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Rangga said he started smoking a year ago and that it was difficult for him not to smoke as most of his peers were also active smokers.

He said he usually smoked 12 cigarettes per day.

Like Rangga, 2-year-old Muhammad Bagus Riyandi, of Ketandan village, Dagangan district, East Java, started smoking at the unlikely age of nine months.

"He would cry like a baby yearning for milk if he did not smoke.

"He is growing up like any other normal child," said Bagus' mother Yayuk Lestari.

"Despite starting smoking at nine months old, he has never been sick.

The low-income family's daily expenses have risen due to cigarettes.

Nor has the Indonesian Ulema Council's haram edict forbidding tobacco to be sold to children, deterred Bagus from smoking.

His parents say they are struggling to prevent him from smoking up to four cigarettes per day.

Yayuk said Bagus' tobacco addiction is a result of his father and grandfather smoking in front of him.

He spontaneously asked for a cigarette one day and has now ended up as a smoker.

"We wish we could take him to a doctor to examine his condition, but we don't have the money.

"So far, we have only taken him to the community health clinic, and the doctor said Bagus was fine as he had never suffered from any illnesses," she said.

Rangga and Bagus are not the only children addicted to tobacco.

Data from the Surabaya Health Office showed the percentage of child smokers aged from 5-9 and 10-14 years had steadily increased from 1995 to 2004.

In 1995, the 5-9 age group accounted for only 0.6 percent of smokers, but in 2004 it surged to 1.8 percent, while those in the 10-14 age group stood at 8.9 percent in 1994, climbing to 12.8 percent in 2004.

Most alarming is the percentage of smokers between 15 and 19, which is the highest age bracket next to the over-20 age group.

In 2004, the over-20 age group accounted for the highest percentage of smokers in Surabaya, at 63.7 percent.

The high rate of young smokers indicates the number of young smokers is rising every year.

A survey of high students conducted by Santi Martini and Muji Sulistyowati from Surabaya's Airlangga University, in 2008 showed the high prevalence of smokers among high school students.

It showed that 36.3 percent of male students smokers, while 27.1 percent of female students smoked.

These studies also indicate that student smokers are not exclusively male.

An activist from Surabaya's Anti Smoking Community Network, Attoillah, said the government should take responsibility for child tobacco victims.

His group has demanded the provincial administration take the anti-smoking laws passed by the municipal government in Nov. 2008, seriously.

"The number of people still smoking in public places proves the government has failed to enforce the anti-smoking law," he said.

Attoillah added the government should focus on banning cigarette advertisements and tobacco sponsorship of sporting events.