Council backs ban on smoking

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Members of the City Council welcomed on Wednesday moves to insert clauses banning smoking in enclosed public places in the draft bylaw on air pollution that they are currently deliberating.

The spokesman for the council's administrative and legal affairs commission, Muhammad Arifin, said that a ban on smoking in enclosed public places should be included in the articles on indoor pollution.

"The enclosed public places that should be smoke-free include public transportation vehicles and buildings controlled by the administration," said Arifin when reading out the comments made by his commission on the draft bylaw during a council plenary session on Wednesday.

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso first floated the idea on Monday, saying that it would help to reduce air pollution in the capital, long considered one of the most polluted cities in the world.

Sutiyoso had initially wanted to submit a separate draft bylaw on smoking to the council, but later settled for the insertion of a number of clauses in the draft air pollution bylaw.

He said on Wednesday that the incorporation of a smoking ban would make city officials and council members more efficient.

Meanwhile, development affairs commission spokesman Abdul Ghoni said the inclusion of a smoking ban in the draft bylaw was urgently needed to provide a legal basis for restricting smoking in enclosed public places.

Ghoni said the bylaw should also stipulate which areas should be made smoke-free.

The declaration of smoke-free areas was very important for providing protection to non-smokers from the harmful consequences of second-hand smoke, said Ghoni, a councillor from the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction.

Sutiyoso urged that the smoke-free areas to be designated in the draft include public transportation vehicles (buses, trains and minivans), offices and other air-conditioned buildings, such as malls.

Data from the Ministry of Health shows that about 57,000 people in the country are known to die annually from tobacco- related illnesses, including heart disease, respiratory disease, cancer of the mouth, lung cancer, throat cancer and stroke.