Paper Edition | Page: 8
So, we have 60 million male smokers in Indonesia. Smoking is addictive. They are not going to give up smoking. In the long run, more and more people want to smoke. It is their fundamental right to smoke. So what?
Let the smokers smoke. Let them and everyone be happy. Farmers will increase the production of tobacco. Tobacco industries may flourish, gaining more profit. The industry magnates will amass larger amounts of money and become the richest people on earth. And the government will also have a convenient share of the tax levied on tobacco.
Smokers claim they have a “free will” to smoke. Smoking is their “personal choice”. There is no need to interfere with them.
Although we know that ultimately half of the number of smokers will die from smoking related disease. Research found that approximately 50 percent of addicted smokers will have a “happy ending”.
They get old, like Sir Winston Churchill, Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Fidel Castro (who still alive) to name a happy few.
On the other hand, half of the smokers will die a premature death. Just as the smoking advertisements and worldwide reviews show, smoking can cause cancer, strokes, heart disease or emphysema.
These diseases may cause immense suffering to the sick, but also to close relatives. The cost of treatment may be extraordinarily high, often with only very little hope of complete recovery. One out of every two smokers will become a victim of smoking.
Of all commodities, cigarette smoking has the highest mortality rate. There has never been and there never will be a commodity that is as fatal as cigarettes when used as intended.
Often, spouses and their children demand that smoking be done outside the premises. In such a way, they are protected from second hand smoke. But they may not realize their own immense suffering if the smoker eventually gets sick and then dies from a smoking related disease.
Non-smokers should avoid second hand smoke, whether in enclosed rooms or in public places. Smokers should also respect the fundamental right of non-smokers to breathe fresh air.
Having a lovable wife and a couple of beautiful children occasionally may help smokers to quit. Better sooner than later.
Muherman Harun
Jakarta
