I

went to sleep the other night feeling happy. Happy because we have a great person assigned as the new health minister, Prof. Nila Moeloek. Happy because she focuses on the preventive approaches of public health and is especially interested in stamping out the use of tobacco.

However, I woke up this morning feeling worried because I read the news shared by my friends on Facebook that one of Nila'€™s fellow ministers, Susi Pudjiastuti, was spotted by reporters smoking a cigarette after the televised announcement of the Cabinet ministers. I am worried because some of my friends support her freedom to be herself, arguing that people should not judge her based on the fact that she smokes.

Indonesia is the only country in the Asia-Pacific region that has not ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), a treaty that will strengthen the implementation of tobacco-cessation programs in Indonesia. Nila'€™s spouse, Farid Moeloek, is a former health minister and one of the leaders of the National Commission on Tobacco Control (KNPT). Thus, although it is too soon to tell, I am highly optimistic that Nila will continue Nafsiah Mboi'€™s persistent struggle to make our government ratify the FCTC.

The thing is, it is not a simple task to convince certain of her fellow ministers, such as the industry minister, to support FCTC ratification. The chances are that the same old arguments will arise: Our national income relies heavily on domestic tobacco production; the significant number of workers in the tobacco industry, and tobacco being a cultural heritage item. Year after year, the convention'€™s opponents will play around with these questionable facts.

Unfortunately, now we have a new minister in our government, smoking a cigarette in front of the media.

Ma'€™am, might you consider that now you have been chosen as a senior member of government, what you do in public may influence your audience? Do you realize that de-normalizing smoking among Indonesians is a tough thing to do, and you have just normalized these two behaviors: smoking and turning other people into passive smokers?

According to a global tobacco survey in 2011, 35 percent of Indonesians were smokers, 67 percent of whom were male and 4.5 percent female. That makes us the country with the third-largest number of smokers in the world, despite the common knowledge that smoking (active and passive) can lead to a myriad of health problems, such as cancer, acute respiratory infection (ARI), bronchitis and coronary heart disease. These require expensive health treatments and in relation to the new Social Security Management Agency (BPJS), the more smokers we have, the higher the expense for the country, which is not OK.

So my point is, the coverage about '€œthe smoking minister'€ is not about threatening someone'€™s freedom as a human being, nor is it about judging other people based on a (seemingly) unimportant issue. Instead, it is about how far we will go to work together to make Indonesia a better country.

I sincerely hope that the various government institutions do not work against one another anymore. With the right negotiation and lobbying efforst, I believe that we can be truly free to ratify the FCTC. Congratulations and good luck Prof. Nila Moeloek!
I support you.

Larasati Indrawagita
Sydney