'My wife says I am suicidal because I smoke'

Although the national antismoking campaign has been underway for over five years, not all government and local administration offices have been declared nonsmoking areas due to the absence of bylaws to implement antitobacco regulations. In observance of World No Tobacco Day on May 31, The Jakarta Post asked a few residents what they thought about smoking.

Suhaimi, 36, is a shop attendant at Kalibata shopping mall, South Jakarta. He lives on Jl. Dewi Sartika, East Jakarta:

I have smoked for the past 14 years. It's a habit that is hard to kick. My wife is mad at me for "polluting the house" -- those are her words exactly. She can't stand the smell of cigarette smoke. She describes the way that I smoke as the gesture of a suicidal man.

I know my habit puts my health and others' at risk. I'm trying to stop. Not just because my cigarette money is coming out of the family budget; our son has asthma.

Now I smoke only after meals and in open places. I also make sure that there are no children around when I smoke.

If the government wants to ban people from smoking in public, then it should provide smokers with someplace to smoke, don't you think?

Boby, 27, is a distillation engineer for a beverage company in Bekasi. He lives with his family in Pulo subdistrict, South Jakarta:

Everyone should quit. The government should ban smoking in public places because it has long-term affects on health, and not just the smoker's. The government must also control the tobacco industry.

I'm saying this out of experience.

I quit smoking about eight months ago after realizing that I had been suffering various ailments -- including nausea and high blood pressure -- due to smoking. Well, fortunately, I have not been diagnosed with cancer.

The difficult part of quitting is watching your friends smoke. You have to have willpower. Just keep telling yourself that you want to stay healthy.

-- The Jakarta Post