JAKARTA: Former health minister Siti Fadilah Supari called on the government Wednesday to reconsider its plan to issue a regulation that would further restrict the business and consumption of tobacco products as an addictive substance.
Supari, now a member of the Presidential Advisory Council, said that the government should exercise extreme caution because the tobacco business was the livelihood of a great number of farmers and workers.
"Farmers and workers should be the main consideration," Supari said.
She said that restricting the tobacco business and consumption was a foreign idea, which might not be fully appropriate in the local context.
"We should not do what other people dictate," she said as quoted by detik.com.
"I wonder how high the tobacco-related death rate is."
The government's plan also met strong opposition from the tobacco industry.
On Monday, thousands of farmers who were worried about losing their livelihood held a demonstration at the House of Representatives in Jakarta. - JP
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