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House may drop tobacco bill
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Handmade: Several workers complete the manufacturing process of hand-rolled cigarettes (SKT) in Kudus, Central Java, recently. (Antara/Yusuf Nugroho)
F
ollowing criticism, the government and the House of Representatives are mulling to cancel the deliberation of the controversial tobacco bill, but only on the condition that the government issues a ministerial regulation adopting the provisions in the bill.
Downgrading the bill to a ministerial regulation may be seen as a compromise, however, critics have found the option fruitless as it may not answer key health issues brought up by antitobacco activists.
House Legislation Body (Baleg) deputy chairman Firman Soebagyo said on Thursday that the government did not have “true intention” to deliberate the bill and pass it into a law, regardless of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s presidential letter (Surpres) sent to House leadership indicating the government’s agreement to deliberate the bill. The bill was initially proposed by two legislators, Firman of the Golkar Party and Taufiqulhadi of the NasDem Party.
However, Firman said the government was half-hearted. He said the proposal may be a compromise to accommodate both public demand in relation to health issues and the political interests of lawmakers, not to mention the business interests of the industry. “In the [upcoming] meeting with the government, we will likely take the deal,” he said. “So, there will still a legal basis to protect tobacco farmers.”
Golkar and NasDem proposed the controversial bill because they believed such a regulation was important to guarantee the welfare of tobacco farmers.
The bill would seek to reduce tobacco imports by ending the current policy of imposing no cap on imported tobacco, which the bill’s supporters claimed had hurt domestic farmers. However, critics say the bill does not comprehensively provide a solution to tobacco control.
Health Ministry and antitobacco activists have strongly rejected the bill, as they believe it encourages smoking.
