City prepares for smoking ban
City prepares for smoking ban
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Despite doubts over the effectiveness of the new ban on smoking
in public places, the Jakarta administration is moving to
implement the ruling in government offices.
Governor Sutiyoso briefed all five mayors and the Kepulauan
Seribu regent on Monday on the implementation of the bylaw.
"I will require offices and buildings belonging to private
companies to implement the ruling only after I issue an ancillary
gubernatorial decree," he said.
A two-by-three meter glass smoking room is already in place
near the rear entrance gate at City Hall.
Only a few smokers were using the room, others saying they
were reluctant because it felt "like being in a fish tank".
"I spotted several passersby lighting up cigarettes this
morning and advised them to smoke in the room, but they preferred
to put out their cigarettes in the ashtray," a public order
officer told The Jakarta Post.
In the City Council building, two smoking rooms are available
in the basement and one in the speakers room.
City Secretary Ritola Tasmaya said the administration would
not provide a lot of smoking rooms in its offices in order to
encourage smokers to kick the habit.
However, some smokers at City Hall doubted the effectiveness
of the new bylaw.
"I think this ruling will only be effective for a month and
then the situation will return to normal, as if the smoking ban
never existed, just like so many other city regulations," said a
civil servant who did not want to give his name.
Jakarta has a bundle of bylaws that failed because of
ineffective enforcement and poor monitoring, like the bylaws on
public order and sanitation.
Central Jakarta Mayor Muhayat said he would summon his
subordinates, including district and subdistrict heads, to brief
them on the implementation of the bylaw later on Monday.
"We want to ensure that the ruling is carried out down to the
lowest administrative level, which is the subdistrict level," he
said.
Central Jakarta is the only municipality that has provided a
smoking room in its municipal building, in line with the bylaw,
which stipulates that city offices must be smoke-free zones.
Too many offenses, not enough punishments
Bylaw Provisions Sanctions
No. 5/1988 - no littering in parks, streets, three months in prison or a
on sanitation public places, rivers Rp 50,000 fine
- no vandalism of walls, trees,
poles, bridges, fences
No. 11/1988
on public order - pedestrians must walk on sidewalk, six months in prison or a
crosswalks Rp 50,000 fine
- public transportation passengers must
wait for buses at bus stops
- no squatting on road shoulders,
under bridges, in parks
- no businesses allowed in parks, on the side of
railway tracks, on road shoulders