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)