Retail business officials react on no-smoking drive

Retail business officials react on no-smoking drive

JAKARTA (JP): Executives of department stores and supermarkets
gave mixed reactions to the campaign of the Indonesian Heart
Foundation (YJI) on smoke free zones, which will include all
retail outlets in the greater Jakarta area.

Retail business baron Hari Darmawan and Agung Laksono, the
honorary chairman of Indonesian Retailers Association (AP3I),
told The Jakarta Post yesterday that they agree to such a
campaign.

"I absolutely agree (to the campaign)," said Hari, the
president of PT Matahari Putra Prima, which controls 47 Matahari
department stores in Indonesia. Seventeen of the group's
department stores are located in the greater Jakarta area.

Agung, who is also the president of the privately owned ANteve
station, reiterated that smoking is detrimental not only to a
smoker's health but also to non-smokers who inhale smoke from
others' cigarettes, known as passive smoking.

"We should protect non-smokers rights to live in a healthy
manner," he added.

Hari said that Matahari department stores will soon implement
a strict non-smoking policy following complaints from consumers
and salespersons that cigarette smoke makes garments smell bad.

He said that smoking in a department store, which is full of
garments, is also a very dangerous.

YJI is an ardent supporter of non-smoking regulations in
public areas, which includes public transport and public
buildings.

Last month it announced that it will step up its anti-smoking
campaign because the number of young smokers has increased
markedly over the last decade, adding that heart attack is still
the number one killer in Indonesia.

Other retailers, however, said that implementing a non-smoking
area in retail outlets in the country is not an easy task due to
public ignorance on healthy living.

Odjie Iskandar, an executive of Hero supermarket, said
yesterday that the management has imposed a smoking ban in three
of its 37 outlets throughout the greater Jakarta area since May.

Odjie said that Hero could implement the policy in its retail
outlets in Bintaro Plaza and Cinere Mall, both in South Jakarta,
as well as in Kebun Jeruk, West Jakarta, only after separating
the food court and the supermarket section because many people
usually smoke after having a meal.

Data shows that 70 percent of the urban male population in
Indonesia are smokers. Indonesian women, after decades of being
traditionally forbidden to smoke, have taken up smoking since the
1980s, presumably along with the pace of development and
modernization.

Selling tobacco

In a related development, Steve Loho, the president of Circle-
K, said that the convenience store group tolerates smoking in its
outlets because it sells cigarettes.

"If we implement a non-smoking policy, we would be expected
not to sell cigarettes," said Steve, himself a non-smoker.

PT Circle K , a franchise holder of a U.S.-based convenience
chain-store, has all of its 16 outlets in the greater Jakarta
area.

Meanwhile, Teddy Sobandi, an executive of the Pluit Mega Mall,
North Jakarta, said that property industries sooner or later will
also implement a non-smoking policy.

Referring to Mega Mall, he said that the management will
allocate 75 percent of the total space as smoking free zones,
which will include two department stores, cinemas and an ice
skating rink.

Teddy said that smoking will only be tolerated in parking
areas and corridors. (09)