Ary Adji HS

Ning Kuswantoro, Yuli Kis, Andriyati and Fitri Astuti with the Keparakan Declaration. (JG Photo/Ary Adji HS)

A Yogyakarta Neighborhood Declares War on Smoking

At first glance, Keparakan looks pretty much like any other neighborhood in Yogyakarta. But walking through its streets, the casual observer will notice a key difference. No one here smokes cigarettes. Not in front of their houses, not on the streets, and especially not during community meetings.

Keparakan is part of the Mergangsan subdistrict of Yogyakarta, located in the city center, and residents in the area have come together to strike back at an unhealthy habit and have designated their residential area a cigarette-free zone.

At the center of the campaign are four mothers who have become instrumental in the endeavor. Andriyanti, 45, Ning Kuswantoro, 47, Yuli Kis, 50, and Fitri Astuti, 39, decided early last year that they had to do something to improve the working conditions at the small, claustrophobic building that served as Keparakan’s community hall. The women, who take care of administrative matters at the center, could no longer stand the suffocating air caused by the ceaseless smoking of others.

They were also concerned that the smoke was threatening their families’ health within their own homes. Most of the men in the neighborhood were smokers. Many of the children were following in their fathers’ footsteps.

According to 2006 figures from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), about 63 million Indonesians are smokers, despite the country’s leaders signing the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2004. Indonesia was one of only four countries to ratify the framework.

The mothers’ proposal to rid the neighborhood of this health threat has won strong support from urban ward officials. Rajwan Taufiq, the head of the ward, is a staunch backer who also recognized that the smoke-filled community meeting room was a disturbance.

“The no-cigarette-smoke movement is obviously good for our health,” Rajwan said.

The result of the smoke-free campaign was the Keparakan Declaration, an agreement to start an anti-cigarette movement in the neighborhood, which was signed by 13 local leaders. The charter was then hung on the wall of the urban ward office.

“At the time, there were no regulations against cigarettes in Yogyakarta, so we made our own,” Rajwan said. The result is cleaner air in the office and the floor and furniture is free from tapped ash. “However, we still could not restrict people who wanted to smoke. So we built a smoking area outside,” he said, pointing to a small building near the gate.

The two-by-two-meter smoking area stands just outside the main building. Five chairs sit around a small table with a large ashtray at its center. The walls are plastered with posters explaining the diseases caused by smoking.

“At the beginning of the anticigarette movement, there were always people who came to smoke [there]. But in a matter of weeks, it became empty. Maybe [the residents] became wary of smoking because of the posters we put up,” said Rajwan, who added that he has never smoked.

As a result, the office was completely smoke-free in a couple of weeks. However, implementing the strategy in the neighborhood was not as easy.

“We employed a ‘grumbling tactic’ every time someone smoked during a community meeting, even at a party, [saying] we don’t smoke but we suffer the effect as passive smokers. This is dangerous, especially because there are young children around,” Andriyati said.

At home, she also had to work on her own husband, who was a smoker.

“Words didn’t work,” she said.

She tried another method — throwing away all the ashtrays in her house. She also taught her small children about the dangers of smoking. “My husband then agreed only to smoke outside the house. A few weeks later, he stopped smoking [altogether],” Andriyati said.

Fitri Astuti had another story to tell.

“The movement had a tougher going in my neighborhood because the leader is a chain-smoker. In the beginning, he refused to sign the anticigarette declaration,” she said.

The neighborhood leader also threatened to boycott routine meetings if he was forbidden from smoking during the meeting. “So several meetings went awry because of his behavior,” Andriyati said.

An agreement between members of the community was then made. There were to be no ashtrays and the women wore masks when people started smoking around them.

“The smokers were embarrassed,” Fitri said. “Since then, cigarettes have not been provided at meetings, parties or community events. There are no ashtrays in my neighborhood.”

The women then enlisted the Gadjah Mada University School of Medicine to help them hold training sessions that would educate them more about the dangers of smoking. Keparakan also established a special team to manage the anticigarette movement. Currently, the team is composed of 39 residents, most of whom are women.

As the group stepped up their campaign, members began giving talks on the dangers of smoking at every community meeting.

“We featured residents who had serious diseases related to smoking to testify about the dangers of smoking,” Ning Kuswantoro said.

Slamet Widodo, 53, now a member of the group, was one of them.

“I’ve been smoking since 1974. I smoked two packs a day,” he said.

Recently, Slamet began experiencing difficulty breathing and suffered severe chest pains. After going to two doctors, Slamet finally accepted the diagnosis — a serious heart condition from his years of smoking.

“But I didn’t want to give up. A week after the doctor, I smoked a single cigarette,” he said, but he immediately felt faint and unable to move. “From that point on, I learned my lesson and believe 100 percent that smoking is very dangerous. I don’t want anyone to experience what has happened to me.”

Slamet is now trying to get his children to quit smoking. “My only regret is that my children became smokers because I was a smoker,” he said.

Health complications from smoking can include cancers of the lungs, larynx, mouth and pancreas. It can also be a significant factor in heart attacks, strokes and shortness of breath from emphysema.

Improved health conditions was not the only advantage that people started to see from the antismoking campaign. The women in the neighborhood have also seen an improvement in their financial situation. According to BPS statistics, cigarettes account for 11.89 percent of household expenses among poorer families, second only to rice.

“Imagine, we spent Rp 17,000 ($1.80) every day on two packs of cigarettes. Since my husband stopped smoking, I have saved Rp 500,000 a month,” said Yuli Kis, who runs a warung (street food stall).

Groups of young men also no longer gather to smoke and drink.

Yogyakarta now has smoking laws in place. In 2007, a law on air pollution, which included regulation on smoke-free areas, was passed. This was followed up by a 2009 gubernatorial decree on cigarette-free areas.

In a country where smoking is a regular part of daily life, four women have stood their ground and made a difference in their everyday reality. It won’t be long before others may soon follow suit.

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