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Protect Indonesian children from tobacco addiction
His unbelievable smoking habit gained wide coverage from national and international media outlets, with Indonesia considered a dangerous smoking zone for its underage population.
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en years ago, Aldi Suganda, who hails from an impoverished village in Banyuasin, South Sumatra, became a global virtual sensation—in a notorious way. In video footage, the then-2-year-old Aldi was depicted chain-smoking gleefully as he was surrounded by adults who laughed and clapped as they watched him as a baby smoker who consumed at least 40 cigarettes (four packs of cigarettes) every day.
His unbelievable smoking habit gained wide coverage from national and international media outlets, with Indonesia considered a dangerous smoking zone for its underage population.
“I’ve quit smoking and I’m totally free of any toxic tobacco influence. I’m healthy now. I beg my friends to stop smoking,” the 12-year-old Aldi shared his experience during a webinar held in conjunction with World No Tobacco Day on May 31.
The Health Ministry jointly organized the event with the Association of Health Offices, WHO Indonesia, APCAT and the International Union Against TB and Lung Health (the Union).
Aldi recalled when he was still an active smoker he frequently experienced shortness of breath, coughing and had chest pains.
Medical experts touted that smoking at an early age was deeply concerning because children and adolescents were still growing physically and their brains were still developing.
Tobacco use in teenagers and young adults can cause both immediate and long-term harm, including reduced physical fitness.
Smoking reduces lung function and lung growth. It can also damage the heart and blood vessels, which can increase the risk for atherosclerosis and heart disease.
Seto Mulyadi, better known as Kak Seto, chairman of the Indonesian Child Protection Agency (LPAI), was the one who took Aldi out of his vicious life cycle of being an active smoker. “I met him 10 years ago in a heart-wrenching situation. How could a 2-year-old smoke dozens of cigarettes a day while his parents did nothing,” recalled Seto.
Together with the community, LPAI took swift action trying to save this infant from further tobacco addiction. “We [LPAI] provided a large variety of initiatives, including play therapy, to divert his smoking habit to more constructive physical and mental activities. It took huge efforts, time and energy for Suganda to literally clean up his body from toxic nicotine substances.”
What was gravely concerning, Seto said: “There might be thousands or even millions of Aldi Sugandas out there across the Indonesian archipelago.”
Indeed, Aldi embodies the real statistical number of child smokers in Indonesia. After the video of Aldi circulated globally, numerous others popped up providing depressing pictures of child smokers across Indonesia.
Guy B. Marks, president of the Union, warned that more than 220,000 people die from smoking-related diseases in Indonesia. There are an estimated 2 million underage smokers in Indonesia or one in five students nationwide.
According to the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS), 19.2 percent of students between 13 and 15 years old use a large variety of tobacco products. About 18.8 percent of students (35.5 percent of boys and 2.9 of girls) smoked tobacco.
In Indonesia, the survey was jointly conducted with the National Health Research and Development (Balitbangkes) under the Health Ministry in 2019 involving 9,992 eligible students of which 5,125 were aged 13-15 years old.
“This commemoration of World No Tobacco Day is an opportunity to raise awareness on the danger of tobacco use and smoking as well as to review all policies related to national tobacco control and prevention programs,” added Marks.
With this year’s theme “Commit to Quit”, a comprehensive tobacco control program at national and subnational levels is urgently needed to empower smokers to quit, said Marks.
Around 60 percent of 1.3 billion of tobacco users globally have expressed a desire to quit but only 30 percent of them have access to the tools to help them. In Indonesia, almost half of smokers say they intend to quit smoking.
Most recently, the cigarette industry has vigorously promoted novel products such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco, claiming that they are solely designated to help people quit smoking. This is the industry’s latest trick targeting young non-smokers with these new products. “The Indonesian government must resist allowing access to these novel tobacco products,” Marks said.
When it comes to smoking and other forms of addiction among children and teens, people may point their fingers in every direction.
Some are motivated by strong peer pressure — they smoke to fit in with their peers. The others like the appeal of the “rebel” label that may be attached to smoking or equate smoking with being mature and cool. Teenage girls might smoke to help them lose weight. Parents and adults also play important roles in encouraging youth to smoke.
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin shared his views about young smokers. “I think we need to view this (smoking) problem from different perspectives. For them, smoking is a lifestyle, an easy way to look “cool”, and therefore, we have to address this issue from their own points of view.”
The laws and regulation, as well as tobacco control programs, might be seen as too bureaucratic for these young people. Those are government-oriented programs and policies. We need to implement youth-oriented initiatives, the minister insisted.
“Rather than lecturing teens about the dangers of smoking, why don’t we harness an open and honest dialogue with them on what they really think about smoking and how we can help them quit. I think this can help us deliver important messages on the significance of kicking the habit without making it sound like we are indoctrinating them. Their genuine aspirations and voices are crucial for us to create programs that really appeal to them.”
Farruk Qureshi, a representative of WHO Indonesia, said he agreed with Budi that thinking out of the box was necessary to think beyond the rigid legislative fronts. “Yet, we do know that unfortunately we still face critical challenges, especially when it comes to children,” explained Farruk.
“We do understand that tobacco control requires tough policy decisions in Indonesia—be it at the subnational or national level, all decisions are important and we must believe that in the end, they will be rewarding for Indonesia,” he added.
There are some areas that require drastic change. In the legislative front, one of the biggest areas of concern is tobacco advertisement. There is also a crucial need for change in the tobacco industry’s image, as it portrays itself as the country’s economic catalyst.
These are among long-term social changes necessary to prevent our children from taking up this habit and quitting it for good.
The writer is Member of the Asia Pacific Media Alliance for Health and Development
