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Indonesia ‘Worst’ in Tobacco Fight
Dessy Sagita | May 30, 2011

An activist parading an effigy with cigarettes protruding from its body during a protest in Surabaya city in East Java province on Sunday ahead of World No Tobacco Day on Tuesday. Cigarette consumption in Indonesia soared 47 percent in the 1990s and has one of the highest smoking rates in the world, according to the World Health Organization. (AFP Photo) An activist parading an effigy with cigarettes protruding from its body during a protest in Surabaya city in East Java province on Sunday ahead of World No Tobacco Day on Tuesday. Cigarette consumption in Indonesia soared 47 percent in the 1990s and has one of the highest smoking rates in the world, according to the World Health Organization. (AFP Photo)
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foreigner94
10:21am Jun 1, 2011

It is very sad to know that the Indonesian government still doesn't think smoking is bad to the health of the people .

And it is also sad to see so many poor people spending scarce money to smoke when his/her family doesn't have enough for food.


Darwinista
6:39am Jun 1, 2011

Just visit the world heath organization website, then do an internal search on second hand smoke, just see that there is no result coming up that doubt the harm of second hand smoke. SECOND HAND SMOKE KILLS. You can discuss the distance to the smoker, which is trivial. The bottomline is that it is not only so easy to see the effects as I showed in my previous posting, but also that the only persons who dare to say otherwise, are already effected by a life of smoke addiction, and are in a denial mode. Just that reminds me of my mother who before she died of smoke related causes after a life of heavy smoking, also told me that it was not proven that smoking was harmful. I just laughed in her face, with sadness in my heart.

TakingTosh
8:47pm May 31, 2011

Darwinista - I agree 100% that second hand smoke can be repulsive - but that does not prove it is harmful. As the posting shows, there is a tendency to let our personal feelings cloud the issue.

Darwinista
8:26pm May 31, 2011

Lack of hard references, makes stories as the one from paris so stupid. One has to sit as a non-smoker only in a meeting room for an hour full of smokers, you just come out with your clthes stinking on the smoke, your throat sore for the rest of the day and yet some idiots tell you there is no effect? How curious. Still need hard evidence? What would you need?


WeegieBoy
9:43am May 31, 2011

Ban advertising for a start as all of the adverts here make out that to be successful you have to be a smoker. The biggest issue here is tobacco companies as they see Indonesia as easy picking and their only last hope.

Then strictly control the no smoking ban in public places. I still walk into cafes in this country and find people smoking. You ask the staff why and they say "because they asked to" Tell them no, it is against the law to smoke in here. For sure business will drop for a short while but it will recover. The UK, Australia etc have no issues with profits once people realise this is the rules. Just think how much more healthy people will be and how much nicer it will to come home from a night out without smelling like a bloody ashtray....

As countries mark World No Tobacco Day today, Indonesia is still struggling to end the deadly addiction among its citizens despite overwhelming evidence that smoking is a major killer.

Indonesia remains the only country in the Asia-Pacific region that has not ratified the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which requires its members to ban all tobacco advertising, including sponsorships and promotions, and impose no-smoking zones.

This has led activists to describe Indonesian programs to fight tobacco addiction, especially among young smokers, as the “worst in the world.”

“Indonesia is a gigantic country, the number of smokers is outrageous,” said Fuad Baradja, head of public education at the Indonesian Smoking Control Foundation (LM3).

“People start smoking when they are toddlers. But despite the severity of the situation, we still don’t have adequate regulations that can address these problems properly. Therefore it’s safe to say our anti-tobacco programs are the worst in the world.”

World No Tobacco Day was initiated by the WHO in 1987 to encourage people to stop consuming tobacco products for at least 24 hours, but so far in Indonesia its impact has been limited.

Ministry of Health data shows that more than 60 percent of Indonesian men are smokers and more than 43 million children live with smokers.

A global youth tobacco survey conducted by the WHO in 2006 found that more than 37 percent of Indonesian high school and university students smoked, and three out of 10 admitted they started before turning 10.

Kartono Muhammad, a leading anti-tobacco activist and a former chairman of the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI), said efforts to catch up with neighboring countries in terms of curtailing tobacco’s harmful impact had thus far been ineffective, largely due to a lack of national leadership.

“Unfortunately, the efforts are sporadic and they don’t reach all parts of Indonesia,” he said. “That’s because these efforts were initiated by local governments while the central government has been idle.”

Only eight of the 33 provinces and 11 of the more than 400 districts in Indonesia have imposed no-smoking zones in public areas and facilities.

Jakarta is one of the provinces that has banned smoking in buildings but the regulation has remained largely ignored.

However, the WHO honored Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo on Sunday for his commitment to fighting tobacco addiction.
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