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Anti-tobacco groups slam BPS for ‘misleading’ data display on child smokers
Activists and even the Health Ministry have taken issue with the national statistics agency for presenting data on child smokers sourced from two different surveys, pointing out that it could cause confusion at best and be misleading at worst.
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A minimarket in Central Jakarta uses a length of fabric to conceal its cigarette rack in compliance with the new regulation on tobacco advertising, as pictured on Sept. 15, 2021. (ANTARA FOTO/Dhemas Reviyanto)
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nyone concerned about the number of child smokers in Indonesia, dubbed the “Disneyland for Big Tobacco”, may have breathed a sigh of relief on seeing the latest data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), which showed that the number of smokers aged below 18 years had dropped significantly from 9.65 percent in 2018 to 3.87 percent in 2019, and then to 3.81 percent in 2020.
Anti-tobacco groups, however, are not happy with the data displayed on the agency’s website. Their issue is not over the accuracy of the figures, but about whether it is appropriate to compare the 2018 figure from the Health Ministry's Basic Health Survey (Riskesdas) with the 2019 and 2020 figures from the BPS National Social and Economic Survey (Susenas).
“It is not an apple-to-apple comparison,” Widyastuti Soerojo, the core group coordinator at the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) Indonesia, told The Jakarta Post.
The two surveys have different goals and methodologies, even classifications and definitions. For example, the Riskesdas classifies child smokers as aged between 10 and 18 years, while the Susesnas puts them at between 5 and 18 years. The Riskesdas defines smoking as burning conventional cigarettes as well as using e-cigarettes, while the Susesnas’ definition covers only conventional cigarettes.
Moreover, the Riskesdas is a health survey that is conducted every five years while the annual Susenas is more of a socioeconomic survey.
Creating confusion
That the figures come from state institutions could create confusion among the public who were none the wiser, Widyastuti said. But what concerned her the most was that the confusion could be exploited by competing interests.
