H

ealth experts and consumer groups have questioned the government’s tardiness in issuing the tobacco regulation, saying the delay has increased the risks to the population’s health.

The issuance of the government regulation on tobacco is mandated by Law No. 36/2009 on health. However, three years after the passing of the law the government has yet to issue the tobacco regulation.

“The process [of the issuance of the tobacco regulation] has become too political,” said Tulus Abadi of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Tulus said he and fellow activists lamented the slow progress despite the fact that relevant ministries had already agreed the contents of the draft regulation.

In principal, he said, there were no differences of opinion among ministries about the contents of the government regulation on tobacco control. However, the time frame for signing the regulation remained unclear.

At a limited Cabinet meeting in August, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he would soon sign the tobacco regulation as all ministries had endorsed it.

However, of the total six ministers related to the issue, only three of them, namely the health minister, the industry minister and the coordinating people’s welfare minister, have so far signed the draft regulation.

According to Tulus, the draft regulation is currently at the Finance Ministry; after that, it still needs approval from the law and human rights minister and the coordinating political, legal and security affairs minister.

“I question why we need approval from the Office of the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Ministry when the regulation mostly deals with health issues rather than political ones,” he said.

Two key issues in the tobacco regulation are the inclusion of graphic health warnings on cigarette packets and the designation of smoke-free zones to protect non-smokers from the impact of smoking.

Tulus alleged that the tobacco industry had intervened, directly or indirectly, on this issue. Citing an example, Tulus said that the original draft required cigarette manufacturers to put graphic warnings on 50 percent of both sides of a pack of cigarettes.

“By lobbying officials at the Industry Ministry and the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, the tobacco industry succeeded in persuading the government to reduce the warnings to only 40 percent,” said Tulus.

In Brunei Darussalam, cigarette manufacturers — including those from Indonesia — can sell their products in the country only if graphic photos of the effects of smoking cover 75 percent of both sides of the cigarette package.

Kartono Mohamad of the Tobacco Control Support Center (TCSC) said the government seemed to have been heavily influenced by the tobacco industry. Citing data, he said that 200,000 people died of tobacco-related health problems every day.

“By delaying the issuance of the regulation, we will see how many people in this country have to die from tobacco-induced diseases. It seems that the government, however, would rather see those people die rather than fight the pressure from the tobacco industry,” he said.

A recently published Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS): Indonesia Report 2011 shows that Indonesia has one of the world’s largest number of tobacco smokers. Around 61.4 million Indonesians aged 15 years and over are active smokers, it says.

In 2001-2010, the prevalence of smokers with no schooling or only an elementary school education increased to 36 percent from 31 percent, the data showed. Furthermore, young smokers aged between 10 and 14 years old doubled during the period. Meanwhile, the prevalence of smokers with a university education remained at 25 percent.