RI chokes as pact anti-smoking becomes law
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The global anti-smoking pact became law on Sunday legally binding the countries that ratified it. Cigarette-friendly Indonesia, meanwhile, coughed embarrassedly and stood at the back of the room.
The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) endorsed by the member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) aims to curb the tobacco trade globally.
It has been ratified by 57 countries, which were given three years to slap strong health warnings on tobacco packages, and five years to ban all tobacco advertisements, promotion and sponsorship.
The treaty, the first in the world regarding international public health, also recommends tax increases on tobacco products, crackdowns on smuggling, and reducing exposure to second-hand smoke.
It is hoped the agreement will help reduce the devastating economic and health impacts of tobacco consumption, which is the second leading cause of preventable deaths globally after hypertension, killing some 4.9 million people a year.
Smoker-friendly Indonesia, however, did not sign the pact although more than 400,000 people are known to have died in 2001 due to smoking-related diseases, including lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and strokes. Estimates are hazy about total smoking related deaths in the country but experts say they are likely to be in the millions.
Studies have shown that many smokers globally are children and teenagers, more than a third of which continue to smoke in adult years and die prematurely of diseases.
However, anti-tobacco campaigns in Indonesia have always run up against money -- tobacco excise charges contribute a great deal to state revenues -- some Rp 27.03 trillion in 2003 before tax.
In June last year, former minister of industry and trade Rini MS Soewandi urged the government to postpone the FCTC ratification as it could harm the country's tobacco industry, which was a major employer.
However, health experts and anti-smoking activists argue that the cost of the health problems caused by smoking far outweigh the benefits the industry brings, and costs the government twice as much as the revenues generated from tobacco taxes.
Increasing tobacco tax would bring in more revenue that could be use to fund public health programs, they said.
Tjandra Yoga Aditama, a pulmonologist and anti-smoking activist, said that FCTC ratification would be the ideal way to impose sanctions on violators.
"The deadline for ratification expired last year but we could still become a party to the convention (by legislation)," he said.
Tjandra said the recent decision of the Jakarta administration to pass a bylaw on air pollution banning cigarette smoking in public places was a good example of an anti-smoking campaign.
"This step should be followed by other (local) administrations. The government should adopt the key requirements of the FCTC into its legislation as well," he said.
These include increasing tobacco taxes; enacting comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; placing rotating health warnings on tobacco packaging that cover at least 30 percent of the display area; banning the use of misleading and deceptive terms such as "light" and "mild"; and protecting citizens from exposure to tobacco smoke in workplaces, public vehicles and enclosed areas.