Activists face hard fight as smokers puff away<\/p>\n
Nopporn Wong-Anan, Reuters, Jakarta<\/p>\n
An Indonesian mother covers her baby's face in a pram while a
\nwell-dressed young woman next to her takes her last puff on a
\ncigarette at Jakarta's posh Plaza Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The air in the restaurants there is dense with tobacco smoke.
\nThere is no section set aside for non-smokers.<\/p>\n
The scene is typical in a country where smoking is rampant in
\nmost public places from offices to canteens and even hospitals
\nand where tobacco advertising on billboards and television is
\nwidespread, unlike some of Indonesia's neighbors.<\/p>\n
For Indonesia's anti-smoking advocates it means an uphill
\nbattle, not only because of the popularity of smoking, but
\nbecause the tobacco industry is a major employer and provides the
\ndebt-ridden government with the bulk of its excise-tax earnings.<\/p>\n
\"There is no strong political will to address the problem,
\nexcept from the health ministry,\" said Laksmiati Hanafiah, vice
\nchairwoman for the National Committee on Smoking Control.<\/p>\n
\"The government just raised the tax to increase the revenues,
\nnot to protect the people's health,\" she said.<\/p>\n
The number of smokers in Indonesia has risen steadily in the
\npast three decades thanks to lax regulations that are loosely
\nenforced, according to a World Health Organization statement
\nquoted by Indonesia's Health Ministry.<\/p>\n
One in two students aged from 15 upwards smokes and 59 percent
\nof all males aged from 10 upwards are daily smokers -- one of the
\nhighest figures in the region, said the National Committee on
\nSmoking Control, an umbrella group of anti-smoking advocates.<\/p>\n
According to ministry data the number of smokers in Indonesia
\nrose by 60 percent during 1970-1990 and by 44.1 percent during
\n1990-1997 making it the biggest tobacco consumer after China, the
\nUnited States, Japan and Russia.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's 210 million people consume around 220-230 billion
\nsticks a year with annual consumption growing around five
\npercent, according to Merril Lynch.<\/p>\n
Around 85 percent of the sticks smoked are clove-laced
\ncigarettes known locally as kretek. The other 15 percent is
\nstandard \"white cigarettes\" with no clove content.<\/p>\n
Just three local and two foreign producers -- namely Gudang
\nGaram [GGRM.JK], Sampoerna [HMSP.JK], Philip Morris [MO.N], and
\nBritish American Tobacco [BATS.L] -- control around 80 percent of
\nthe market. The Indonesian companies are among the bluest of blue
\nchips on the Jakarta stock exchange.<\/p>\n
Some analysts say to discourage people from smoking is not in
\nthe government's interest because it would harm a long-running
\ngolden goose that is one of its few reliable revenue sources.<\/p>\n
\"Primarily, Indonesia is a smoking country, the intensity of
\nthe anti-smoking campaign is not as high as in developed
\ncountries,\" Merrill Lynch consumer analyst Heriyanto Iranwan
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The government would have a delicate if not impossible
\nbalancing act trying to satisfy anti-smoking advocates without
\nhurting the economy and reducing much-needed inflows of its
\nrevenue, analysts say.<\/p>\n
Annual sales volume of the tobacco industry is between Rp 50-
\n55 trillion (US$5.64-$6.21 billion), accounting for around three
\npercent of gross domestic product, Heriyanto estimated.<\/p>\n
And it employs around 400,000 people from tobacco farmers to
\nfactory workers and cigarette vendors, in a country where overall
\neconomic growth is slower than increases in the work force.<\/p>\n
Moreover, around 95 percent of some Rp 22.35 trillion in
\ngovernment excise tax revenue expected this year will come from
\ncigarettes, according to the ministry of finance. Excise taxes
\naccount for seven percent of the government's overall revenues.<\/p>\n
The government introduced health-related regulations only in
\n1999, requiring the industry to impose limited restrictions on
\nadvertising and reduce the amount of dangerous components.<\/p>\n
That was years after some neighbors like Thailand had
\ncompletely banned cigarette advertising and others like Singapore
\nhad prohibited smoking in virtually all public places.<\/p>\n
Critics say the government does not discourage smoking because
\nmany politicians are from constituencies where voters are
\ninvolved in growing tobacco or producing cigarettes.<\/p>\n
In addition, the cost of treatment for people suffering from
\ntobacco-related disease is bigger than the revenues the
\ngovernment receives, anti-smoking advocates say.<\/p>\n
Farid Anfasa Moeloek, a former health minister, said in April
\nannual public and private expenditure on smoking-related
\ntreatment was Rp 30 trillion but the government made Rp 10
\ntrillion from tobacco excise.<\/p>\n
\"You lose Rp 20 trillion a year due to health disorder caused
\nby smoking, which could be invested to improve our children's
\nnutrition,\" he said. \"Health is investment.\"<\/p>",
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