Yogyakarta to ban smoking in city buildings

YOGYAKARTA: To promote a healthier lifestyle and a cleaner environment, the Yogyakarta municipal administration is drafting rules to discourage smoking in its office buildings. Officials and guests will be allowed to smoke only in designated rooms, the administration said Tuesday. "The rules are being prepared," Yogyakarta city administration spokesman Herman Edy Sulistio said, but did not specify the punishments being planned for rule violaters.

Previously, Yogyakarta Mayor Herry Zudianto had issued a circular calling for people not to smoke in public places inside the city administration compound.

The mayor, himself a heavy smoker, said he did not want to totally ban smoking but called on people not to disturb others when they were smoking. - JP