Tobacco industry still calls the shots<\/p>\n
By R.A.I. Warmenhoven<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Despite the political changes in the country, a
\ncoalition of cigarette companies and the Presidential Palace have
\noverturned Indonesia's first antismoking legislation.<\/p>\n
While it seems there will be no return to the old days of the
\nNew Order regime of president Soeharto and his sycophants, this
\ndoes not mean the old forces are not fighting back.<\/p>\n
Sometimes the Presidential Palace even supports them. In
\nparticular when there is money involved, according to some
\nanalysts. And there is one troubling area in which the old and
\nnew forces have been particularly successful: tobacco control
\npolicies.<\/p>\n
Last month President Abdurrahman Wahid overturned the
\ncourageous decision by his predecessor, interim president B.J.
\nHabibie, to introduce the first tobacco control laws in
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
Indonesia is around 30 years behind neighboring countries such
\nas Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia in limiting the freedom of
\nthe tobacco industry. Using its power, the kretek (clove-
\nflavored) cigarette companies, which control almost 90 percent of
\nthe cigarette market in Indonesia, were able to convince advisers
\nin the palace to overturn the presidential decree promulgated
\nduring Habibie's last days in power.<\/p>\n
The kretek companies were so confident Indonesia would remain
\nwhat is probably the least regulated cigarette market in the
\nworld, they never even bothered to comply with the regulations
\ncontained in the decree.<\/p>\n
These included a ban on television advertising, the
\nintroduction of health warnings on cigarette packs and the
\nlowering of excessively high levels of tar and nicotine levels in
\nkretek cigarettes.<\/p>\n
Indonesia is probably the only country in the world where the
\nlocal cigarette industry is still so powerful and so well-
\nconnected -- President Abdurrahman was the guest speaker at a
\nrecent industry conference -- that it is able to block measures
\nthat decades ago became standard in the rest of the world.<\/p>\n
As a result, Indonesia has no bans on television advertising,
\nno public information campaigns on the health risks associated
\nwith smoking, virtually no smoke free areas and local cigarettes
\nhave by far the highest levels of tar and nicotine levels in the
\nworld.<\/p>\n
On top of this the excise system is designed by and for the
\nbenefit of the industry, and there are no government campaigns to
\nprevent underage smoking.<\/p>\n
This is important because \"70 percent of smokers in Indonesia
\ntake up the habit before they have turned 14\", says Muhaimin
\nMoefti, chairman of Gaprindo, one of Indonesia's cigarette
\nmanufacturing associations. Thanks to a total lack of
\nregulations, Indonesia is the fastest growing cigarette market in
\nthe world. The Indonesian cigarette industry, concentrated in
\nEast Java, is a spectacular success story. Since 1980 the
\nproduction volume of the powerful local cigarette manufacturers
\nhas tripled.<\/p>\n
At the same time volume in developed countries like the United
\nKingdom, the United States and Singapore has fallen
\nsubstantially. More than 40 percent of all Americans smoked in
\n1964. Since then the number has almost halved to 21 percent.<\/p>\n
In contrast, more than 70 percent of the Indonesian male
\npopulation and just under 5 percent of the female population
\nsmoke. This means that over 60 million Indonesians smoke. Most of
\nthese smokers earn less than US$1 a day. \"These poor people are
\nspending 30 percent to 40 percent of their income on cigarettes,\"
\nestimates Sampurno of the Ministry of Health.<\/p>\n
State Minister of the Empowerment of Women Khofifah Indar
\nParawansa has called on mothers of poor families not to buy
\ncigarettes for their husbands. \"Instead they should spend the
\nmoney on meat and eggs, to ensure their children do not suffer
\nfrom malnutrition,\" she said.<\/p>\n
According to a recent report by the World Health Organization,
\none in two regular smokers will die as result of the habit.
\nAlready three of the top five causes of death in Indonesia are
\nrelated to smoking: childbirth complications, heart diseases and
\npneumonia. And the epidemic is just starting.<\/p>\n
It takes an average of 20 years before smokers develop serious
\nsmoking-related illnesses. The long delay between smoking and the
\nonset of serious smoking-related illnesses has most likely
\nconfused the Indonesian government, which has simply never
\nstudied the relationship between smoking and mortality.<\/p>\n
The tobacco industry in Indonesia is the biggest taxpayer
\nafter the oil sector. The kretek companies consistently argue
\nthat any attempt to regulate them would result in a massive loss
\nof jobs and a serious loss of revenue for the government.
\nAdvisers to the President seem sympathetic to both arguments.<\/p>\n
The government desperately needs money to finance the economic
\nrecovery of Indonesia. And many of those employed by the kretek
\ncompanies and many tobacco farmers are members of Nahdlatul
\nUlama, the President's political base.<\/p>\n
However, these arguments are misleading at best.<\/p>\n
Experience in many other countries, like South Africa under
\nNelson Mandela, has consistently shown that raising taxes on
\ntobacco leads to an increase in government revenue, especially in
\nthe short run.<\/p>\n
Successful policies to regulate the industry will only lead to
\na slowdown in the growth rate of tobacco consumption in
\nIndonesia. Doomsday scenarios that regulations will result in
\nmass layoffs are nonsense.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, money not spent on tobacco will be spent on other
\ngoods, generating alternative employment. Economists at the World
\nBank concluded long ago that the economic benefits of tobacco
\ncontrol far exceed the costs. As a result the World Bank has had
\na policy of not lending money for tobacco production and for
\nencouraging tobacco control.<\/p>\n
There is also some good news. Change is in the air. By
\nconvincing the Presidential Palace to overturn Habibie's decree,
\nthe kretek industry may have scored a pyrrhic victory. The new
\ndecree may be a lot \"milder\", but the right to be informed about
\nthe risks involved with smoking has been established for
\nIndonesian consumers.<\/p>\n
One day even cigarette companies in Indonesia will have to
\nprint health warnings on their cigarette packs. The new decree
\nalso stipulates that direct television advertisements for
\ncigarettes are not allowed after 9:30 p.m. Only after so-called
\n\"implementing regulations\" are issued will the industry decide if
\nit is willing to comply with these limitations.<\/p>\n
The decree fits into a new trend among Indonesian urban
\nconsumers: they are slowly becoming more health conscious. And as
\na result, kretek manufacturers are suddenly promoting low tar and
\nnicotine cigarettes. These may be small steps.<\/p>\n
However, non-governmental organizations are convinced the
\nprocess is irreversible. But it is doubtful if Indonesia will
\never catch up with neighboring countries like Singapore, Malaysia
\nand Thailand. These countries started challenging the political
\npower of the tobacco industry in the early 1970s.<\/p>\n
The writer is a Dutch historian from The University of
\nGroningen, the Netherlands, who is currently doing a study of the
\npolitical transition in Indonesia.<\/p>",
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