Calls have increased for the government to pass a bill regulating tobacco products, including a ban on cigarette advertisements.
“We urge the government to facilitate the passing of the bill,” Hadi Supeno, from the Commission on the Protection of Indonesian Children, said Thursday.
The bill, which was initiated following the passing of the 2009 Health Law, would prohibit tobacco advertisements in media and tobacco sponsorship for social, sports, arts and religious events.
The bill would also forbid the sale of cigarettes to children and smoking in public places, and would guarantee protection of children from smoking.
Hadi said that an increasing number of Indonesian children were becoming victims of the cigarette industry.
“Many children begin smoking at an early age. In Malang, there are children who start smoking at the age of four and in Sukabumi at the age of two-and-a-half,” he said.
“The 2002 Child Protection Law stipulates that the government should provide health facilities and carry out comprehensive health cover for the optimal growth of children from the time they are in the womb,” he said at a press conference in Jakarta to push for the bill.
In addition to providing a stronger and more comprehensive legal basis for tobacco regulation, Hadi also said that the government needed to ratify the UN Convention on Tobacco Control.
“Indonesia is the only country apart from Zimbabwe not to ratify the convention,” he said, adding that Indonesia ranked third among countries with the highest rate of tobacco consumption in the world.
Heru Prasetio Kasidi from the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry expressed concern with the increasing rate of smoking among the young.
“We expect the healthy growth of our children, but smoking is addictive and makes early smokers keep up the habit well into adulthood,” he said.
“We insist on distancing children from tobacco as a child protection measure,” he added.
However, some groups are opposed to the bill, including the Muhammadiyah students who rallied in Malang, East Java, last month to demand the Islamic organization revoke its edict stating that smoking was forbidden in Islam.
“The edict will not solve the problem but will create many problems. It will deprive cigarette company employees, tobacco farmers, street vendors and many others, of their livelihoods,” Nasrudin Khoiriza, the rally coordinator, said at the time.
This objection was echoed by Mukhamadi of the Temanggung Regional Representatives Council, news portal Kompas reported. He said he objected to the bill because it would threaten the livelihoods of tobacco farmers and the economy of Temanggung.
“The bill could kill the farmers’ way of life in Temanggung,” he said.
There are 60,000 tobacco farmers in Temanggung. (map)
