What we do not need: Iwan Fals and cigarettes

Santi W.E. Soekanto, Journalist, Jakarta

Virtually every newspaper and magazine in the country was delirious with adulation when they reported last week the concert of music heroes Iwan Fals and Padi Group in Jakarta. They raved how impressive the concert and Iwan were, how the star came across as a humble and sympathetic man, and how they understood why the mostly young audience loved this Time-Asia version of an Asian hero.

No one including Iwan seemed to realize that the numerous banners and posters of A Mild cigarettes decorating the event might mean the emergence of more young smokers and, eventually, more wasteful death. Iwan and the other stars have, perhaps unwittingly, helped convince the young people that cigarettes are compatible with the vivacity of music and youth.

That is what Indonesia does not need: More smokers and heroes who advocate this "gateway" to drugs. Campaigns for tobacco- control, however, have so far had to face such a "giant" namely the tobacco firms that produce brands such as A Mild and promote them at concerts and sporting events.

Friday May 31, 2002 is World No Tobacco Day and Indonesia needs this celebration because more people are smoking in the past decade here and in the Southeast Asian region than ever before. The World Health Organization (WHO) has found that 1.1 billion people in the world smoke today, and the figure could rise to 1.6 billion by the year 2025. In countries with higher income averages, the number of smokers in general has been declining in the past few decades but increasing among poor and middle-income countries such as Indonesia.

Reports said that in 2000, Indonesians smoked close to 200 billion cigarettes and the number is expected to grow by 5 percent a year in the future as it has for most of the past 15 years. It was reported last year that despite the economic meltdown, which cut the annual per capita income to $650 in 2000 from $1,100 in 1997, Indonesians did not stop smoking. Even during the worst of the late 1990s economic crisis when millions of people were finding it difficult to have even one meal a day. When people did not have enough money to buy lunch, nasi bungkus, they went out and bought a cigarette.

In addition, Indonesia has the highest ratio of smokers to population in the region. In fact, Indonesia is the world's fourth largest tobacco consumer after the United States, China and Japan. When overall consumption among the developed countries declined by 10 percent between 1970-1990, it grew by 60 percent among the developing countries. In Indonesia, tobacco consumption between 1990 and 1997 grew by 44.1 percent.

According to the National Agency for Drug and Food Control (BPOM), 6.5 million people become affected with smoking-related diseases every year. The data said that smoking causes 90 percent of cases of lip cancer, throat cancer, bronchitis and lung problems. It showed that smoking caused 75 percent of chronic pulmonary disease and 40 percent of cases of cerebra vascular disease.

Estimates suggest that tobacco-attributable mortality has risen from 2 percent to 3 percent of all deaths in 1980 to 3 to 4 percent in 1986. This would suggest that about 57,000 deaths a year (primarily males) are already attributable to tobacco use, and this number can be expected to increase dramatically within the next few decades.

Why is Indonesia such a big nation of smokers that wastes so much for health service costs for victims of smoke-related diseases? Blame it on the addictive nicotine, but also blame it on the giant tobacco firms who for years have been deceiving people into thinking that it is cool and glamorous to smoke. Blame it on their marketing and promotional machines that convince the young people that tobacco goes hand in hand with the livelihood and vivacity of sports and music.

This giant pumps hundreds of millions of dollars every year into sponsoring sports events worldwide. In the United States alone, for instance, according to the Federal Trade Commission, the major domestic cigarette companies reportedly spent $113.6 million on sports and sporting events in 1999.

This giant, in the first eight months of 1999, sold approximately 127 billion cigarettes and, admittedly, provided a livelihood for millions of people in Indonesia. In fact, cigarette taxes were a major source of finance in the ministry's budget last year, contributing around Rp 22.3 trillion and earning the title of the top national taxpayers year after year.

These firms, which have agents in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, Netherlands, Australia, France, Germany, Switzerland, California, Brunei Darussalam and the United Arab Emirates are spending big money to counter the tobacco-control campaign by targeting increasingly younger people. A recent Global Youth Tobacco Survey showed that most of the youths in Southeast Asia are highly exposed to tobacco promotions. In Indonesia, nearly half the youth studied reported seeing tobacco ads, which gave them the feeling that smoking makes them look "trendy."

Even Taufik Kiemas has reportedly hinted that the anti-tobacco campaign here should not proceed too quickly because that would adversely affect the source of livelihood of those millions of workers in the industry and their families, not to mention his governments largest source of tax revenue. If this is true, that's one of the biggest guns that Indonesian tobacco firms could come forward with.

There are already intensive efforts underway to warn as many people as possible about the dangerous association of tobacco and smoking, helped by parties such as International Federation of Football Association (FIFA). The federation last November 2001 signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with WHO for the removal of tobacco from all football events associated with FIFA. In fact, the kick-off of 2002 FIFA World Cup coincides with the World No- Tobacco Day on May 31.

This is an important step because football is the most popular sport in the world and billions of people, especially youngsters, love football heroes. When FIFA tells them to never smoke, they hopefully will listen.

In Indonesia, the office of the WHO Representative has appointed three well-known young figures to convince the Indonesian youth that smoking is definitely not "cool" and in fact dangerous. The three Health Champions of Indonesia are tennis champion Angelique Widjaja, body builder Ade Rai and top model Tracy Trinita.

Unfortunately, not too many youngsters rave when they watch Angie, Ade or Tracy in action. Tobacco-control campaigners need bigger guns.

Someone like Iwan Fals.