Smoking widespread among students in Bandarlampung

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Ignoring international No-Tobacco Day, which fell on May 31, a group of junior high school students clad in their school uniforms were found smoking in a side alley in the city of Bandar Lampung.

The teenagers left their school campus and hid in the side alley to escape the attention of adults.

It is not very difficult to find people smoking in public places and buildings, including hospitals and government offices in the city, despite restrictions and warnings.

Almost all public places and buildings in the city display no- smoking stickers and pamphlets but visitors and their employees do not heed them.

"It is difficult to prevent children and students from smoking. They comply with the ban while in school but as soon as they are outside we cannot control them," Antara quoted a female teacher of a state junior high school as saying here on Friday.

The several teenagers found smoking in the side alley were elementary school students. When asked why they smoked they said it was their right to do so.

"But, I have never smoked at home," said Ari, a student of a private junior high school in the city.

The students admitted smoking was a regular habit and they put aside part of their pocket money to buy cigarettes. "Yes, we frequently ride in public buses without paying the fare so we can use the transport money to purchase cigarettes," said Ari.

Parents have expressed anxiety about their children's smoking habits, saying it could lead to drug abuse.

"Smoking will develop into drug abuse, as is the trend among high school and university students nowadays," said Aryo, a father of two high school students in the city.

He said his two sons admitted regularly smoking and both started because their colleagues did.

"It is difficult to ask them to stop smoking because I myself am a heavy smoker and the mass media aggressively, extensively advertise cigarettes."

Hadiarto Mangunegoro, a tuberculosis specialist from the University of Indonesia, called for a nationwide anti-smoking campaign with the government playing an active role, because the health scare approach was found ineffective in preventing people from smoking.

"The government should gradually reduce the number of cigarette factories to a minimum and impose high taxes on them so that cigarette producers increase the price of their products. The government should ban people from smoking in public places, including public transport and impose stiffer sanctions against under-age people who are found smoking," he said.

He said warnings on the negative health impact of smoking in banners, public places and the mass media were found to be ineffective because the number of smokers has gradually increased.

According to data from the health ministry, the number of smokers has reached 70 percent of the population and 60 percent of them were from low-income households. Indonesia consumes 1.99 billion cigars and is the world's third largest consumer of tobacco after China.

The World Health Organization (WHO) predicted four million people die annually from smoking-related diseases, such as brain, lung cancer and the figure is expected to double in the next five years.