Smoke, but little fire, to draft bill

Smoke, but little fire, to draft bill

JAKARTA (JP): It is hard to avoid the pervasive presence of
cigarettes. Or, for all the best intentions, to resist the urge
to light up.

Take a walk in a local shopping mall, and attractive young
women bearing branded merchandise and dressed in miniskirts offer
samples of cigarettes to passersby, mostly teenagers and mostly
male.

Turn on the television in the privacy of your home, and watch
as macho men do macho stuff as they puff away on a favorite
smoke.

Tobacco companies are consummately skilled and aggressive in
promoting their products. Even the most resolute smoker out to
kick the habit will need an iron will not to succumb to the
tempting images. And impressionable others may well be tempted to
give cigarettes a try.

Still, the antismoking lobby can breathe a sigh of relief. The
Ministry of Health recently completed its draft regulation on
restricting smoking in public places. The draft -- the first
regulation in Indonesia to issue rules on smoking to protect the
public -- was submitted to the State Secretariat this month.

"We expect the regulation can be approved this year," said
Director General of Drug and Food Supervision Sampurno.

He was one of the panelists in a discussion, organized by the
National Commission for Prevention of Smoking Problems Thursday,
to familiarize the public with the draft regulation.

Audience members, mostly members of the national commission,
applauded the proposed legislation.

"I lost my husband because of cigarettes," actress Mieke
Wijaya said, almost in tears. After a brief pause to compose
herself, she told the stunned audience that her husband, actor
Dicky Zulkarnaen, smoked two packs of cigarette a day before he
died of a stroke at the age of 56 in 1995.

Sampurno said the draft regulation designated more nonsmoking
areas, especially in public places and the workplace, controlled
and supervised cigarette advertisements and promotional
activities, and limited maximum tar and nicotine levels to 20 mg
and 1.5 mg per cigarette.

Cigarette firms would also be required to measure the nicotine
and tar content of each batch and limit the sale of their
products to designated outlets.

Still, many found the draft legislation lacking in concrete
measures to clean up the country's notoriously smoke-filled
rooms.

The director general could not provide specifics about the
draft, such as in disclosing the appointed places allowed to sell
cigarettes, the legal sanctions for violations of the regulation
or the practical measures needed to control and supervise
cigarette ads and promotional activities.

Once the bill takes effect, cigarette firms would have from
five years to 15 years to adjust tar and nicotine levels to the
requirement.

The window of five years will be given to machine-rolled
cigarette makers, most of which are giant multinationals. Clove-
blended cigarette makers -- which are mostly small and medium
local companies lacking the technology to measure the content of
tar and nicotine in their products -- permitted 15 years.

The assistant to the coordinating minister for economy,
finance and industry, Syafruddin A. Temenggung, praised the draft
regulation but said it did not go far enough.

"The regulation is too moderate, too soft," he said.

"Other Asian countries have imposed maximum standards for
cigarette tar and nicotine levels, but we still have to wait for
another five to 15 years."

Chairman of the National Commission for the Prevention of
Smoking Problems Merdias Almatsier said Indonesia was late in
protecting its people from smoking-related diseases. However, he
expected the regulation would be able to lower cigarette
consumption, especially among teenagers.

"Psychologically, teenagers are still seeking their self-
identity, making them an easy target of large-scale cigarette
promotions. And they are easily persuaded by promotions which
seem to offer a certain lifestyle or follow a trend," Merdias
said.

Indonesians smoke more than 200 billion cigarettes per year,
almost 90 percent of which are clove cigarettes.

Merdias criticized cigarette companies for trying to tempt
smokers with macho images in advertising, the distribution of
free samples in promotional activities and through sponsorship of
sports and cultural events.

"It seems like the sky is the limit for their promotional
budgets. They do it because they are trying to find new smokers
to replace those who successfully kicked the habit or died
because of smoking," said Merdias, who also chairs the Indonesian
Medical Association.

He discussed a 1994 survey of 1,000 smokers in Jakarta, which
found that 31 percent started smoking between the ages of 10
years and 17 years, 45 percent between 15 and 22 and 11 percent
before they were 10.

He added that 1998 data from the Indonesia Health Profile
showed that 20 percent of teenagers above 10 years old were
smokers, with 33 percent of smokers aged between 15 and 19.

Getting the message out about smoking is difficult because the
country earns a huge amount from tobacco revenue. For the
1999/2000 fiscal year, the government is targeting Rp 10.8
trillion from cigarette excises. (ste)