Govt urged to drop revised cigarette regulation

Govt urged to drop revised cigarette regulation

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A group of 18 non-governmental organizations appealed to the
government on Friday to drop a revised government regulation (PP)
on cigarettes, which they said was drawn up with a total lack of
transparency.

The organizations, grouped under the National Movement on
Smoking Control, fear the revision will boost the production of
cigarettes, targeted mainly at young people. The World Health
Organization (WHO) has named Indonesia the fourth largest
cigarette consumer on earth.

"Don't change the regulation just for the sake of commercial
interests. Think about the side effects," said Merdias Almatsier,
the director of Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in Jakarta and the
head of a non-governmental organization that campaigns against
smoking.

The coalition questioned the drafting of the revised
regulation by the Ministry of Health, saying there was an absence
of public participation.

"It will be a setback if the government bows to private
interests at the expense of the public," Tulus Abadi of the
Indonesian Consumers Foundation said.

Cigarette taxes were a major source of revenue for the health
ministry's budget last year, accounting for about Rp 22.3
trillion. Cigarette producers have always been among the
country's largest taxpayers.

In 1999, the government issued a regulation on smoking that
restricted tobacco advertising in the electronic media.

It also restricted the maximum amount of nicotine and tar to
1.5 milligrams and 20 milligrams respectively per cigarette.

Modern cigarette producers had to comply with the requirements
within two years. Large companies producing handmade cigarettes
were required to meet the regulation within five years and small
companies within 10 years.

However, after widespread protests by the cigarette industry,
the government issued revised regulation PP No. 38/2000, which
lifted the restriction on cigarette advertising in the electronic
media.

The regulation also revised the maximum nicotine and tar
contents, allowing large clove cigarette producers to meet the
requirements within seven years.

Clove cigarettes are the most popular type of cigarettes in
the country.

An official at the Ministry of Health confirmed that the
ministry had revised the 1999 regulation, although the revision
was not approved by then president Abdurrahman Wahid. The
official refused to identify who asked for the revision.

According to reports, cigarette consumption in Indonesia
reached 200 billion butts in 2000, a figure expected to grow by 5
percent a year. Tobacco consumption in the country between 1990
and 1997 grew by a staggering 44.1 percent a year.