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nti-tobacco organizations have expressed concern that the tobacco control regulation will do little to wean the country off its cigarette addiction.

Many anti-tobacco campaigners also claim that provisions in the new regulation clearly favor cigarette makers.

“We knew that the slow pace in the drafting of the new regulation meant that the industry was persistent in negotiating details of the regulation,” Tulus Abadi of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) said on Wednesday.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed a new tobacco control regulation on Dec. 24 last year, but details of the new rules were only available yesterday when the State Secretariat uploaded the regulation in its entirety onto its website.

One controversial article stipulates that cigarette manufacturers be given an 18-month deadline to comply with the obligation to use 40 percent of cigarette packaging for text and pictorial warnings about the dangers of smoking.

Other controversial provisions include a ban on cigarette makers using misleading promotional terms.

Among such terms cited by the regulation are “Light”, “Mild”, “Low Tar”, “Slim”, “Special” and “Premium”, which have been widely used by cigarette makers on many of their popular brands like “Star Mild”, “A-Mild”, “LA Light” and “Wismilak Slim”.

Anti-tobacco activists say that several provisions in the regulation have been compromised to favor the tobacco industry, which according to some estimates employs some 6 million workers in the country.

Tulus said that the 18-month deadline was too long.

“Six months would be enough for the industry to fully comply with the new regulation. It could have something to do with the stockpiles of cigarettes sitting in their warehouses. They might also want to buy some time because the deadline will coincide with the start of the 2014 elections when the political hullaballoo could become an excuse to extend the deadline,” Tulus said.

Prijo Sidipratomo, the chairman of the National Commission of Tobacco Control who earlier served as chairman of the Indonesian Doctors’ Association (IDI), said that the 40 percent of cigarette packaging reserved for health warnings would be too small to depict pictorial messages about the dangers of smoking.

“Compared with other Southeast Asian countries that have implemented similar regulations, 40 percent is the smallest in the region,” he said.

Another problematic provision is that allowing cigarette makers to run excessive outdoor campaigns including billboards of up to 72 square meters in size.

“It does not make any sense at all. The size is about as large as a volleyball field. Can you imagine a cigarette advert that size being erected on the roadside?” he asked.

The Indonesian Tobacco Growers Association (APTI) and the Indonesian Cigarette Producers Association (Gappri) have expressed their disappointment over the new regulation.

Gappri secretary general Hasan Aoni Aziz said the regulation would burden already struggling medium and small cigarette companies.

“For example, the obligation to provide the pictorial messages will mean extra costs for small businesses. The demise of medium and small companies will only benefit big cigarette makers and this will trigger a greater flow of imported cigarettes,” he said.

APTI chairman Nurtanio Wisnu Brata, meanwhile, said that the new regulation could deal a blow to
millions of employees working for cigarette companies as well as tobacco farmers.

“The government should accommodate demands from of all sides not only from supporters of tobacco control but also those who are against it,” Nurtanio said in a statement.

Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi said in a statement that the government had no intention of putting pressure on tobacco farmers and workers. “The regulation is aimed at protecting the public,” she said.