Smoking rooms a must, city says

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The now common sight of office employees enjoying a cigarette break in stairwells or office canteens will be a thing of the past once the new bylaw prohibiting smoking in public places is enforced beginning in February.

As part of the public awareness campaign ahead of February, Governor Sutiyoso reminded building owners on Tuesday to establish at least one special smoking room in each building.

"We are serious about implementing the ban on smoking in public places ... Building managers must immediately establish smoke-free zones," he said.

The city administration is involved in a one-year campaign to familiarize people with Bylaw No. 2/2005 on air pollution control before it takes effect in February.

The bylaw carries a six-month jail term and a fine of Rp 50 million (US$5,000) for violators.

However, based on an informal survey conducted by The Jakarta Post, many building managers have no idea that they will be required to set up smoking rooms.

"But we are more than willing to comply with the regulation," a building manager in Central Jakarta said.

To support the bylaw, Sutiyoso issued Gubernatorial Regulation No. 75, specifying those public places where smoking will be banned. These include offices, bus terminals, train stations, shopping malls, airports, hotels and restaurants, schools and places of worship.

This list also includes public transportation vehicles such as buses, trains, taxis, buses, public minivans and kancil.

The regulation also specifies that special smoking rooms must be located away from other rooms and should be equipped with exhaust fans and ashtrays.

A warning about the dangers of smoking must also be displayed in each smoking room.

To make sure that public transportation vehicles are smoke- free zones, the administration is encouraging drivers to warn smoking passengers to put out their cigarettes, while passengers may report smoking drivers to the City Transportation Agency. The agency has the power to sanction the drivers.

According to Article 40 of the bylaw, investigators from the civil service, in cooperation with the Jakarta Police, have the authority to investigate anyone alleged to have violated the bylaw.