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)