On Smoking

On Smoking

With reference to the letter Smoking on buses (The Jakarta
Post, July 6, 1995), I think the writer is right when he says
that, in order to avoid the risk of becoming "smoke-enslaved",
young people shouldn't smoke.

Reading between the lines, I think the writer, despite having
he stopped smoking 10 years ago, is still pervaded by a nostalgic
pining for cigarettes, seeing that he "...still can imagine the
enjoyment of smoking a kretek (clove cigarette)", even though I
cannot understand why he feels such a desire, "especially when in
the bathroom, where special effort must be made to vanquish the
desire of smoking a kretek."

I am a smoker but I agree with the writer that, in principle,
smoking in crowded places is impolite. On the other hand, I think
doing so on buses is not really the case. If some of the
passengers smoke (five percent according to the writer's
statistics), is not so detrimental, considering what we find
outside the buses. If you walk in some of Jakarta's streets or if
you go through the bus terminal at Pasar Senen, sometimes smoking
a cigarette means "to take an airing."

PIERO RONCI

Jakarta