A resident enjoys the scenery while smoking on the embankment of the Ciliwung River, Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta, Tuesday (7/3). Due to the addictive nature of smoking, it is difficult for many people to give it up.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – All health regulations related to tobacco control are in danger of being annulled if the tobacco bill is passed. The public will no longer be protected by the state from the negative health impacts of cigarettes. The government has until March 19 to respond to the bill, which came about through the House of Representatives’ initiative.
State secretary Pratikno said the problem inventory list (DIM) in the tobacco bill is still being discussed intensively by the Health Ministry and the Industry Ministry, as well as other related non-ministry state institutions.
Once the discussion is finished, Pratikno said the government would report to the House of Representatives through a presidential letter. When asked whether the tobacco bill content will be accepted by the government, Pratikno did not give an answer. “Just wait for DIM deliberation,” he said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
If the tobacco bill is ratified, all health regulations related to tobacco control are in danger of being annulled. Article 70 of the tobacco bill states that once the law takes effect, all conditions related to tobacco must be adjusted to the law.
Julius Ibrani, a member of the Public Advocate Solidarity for Tobacco Control, said that even though the bill includes articles on health, the spirit of controlling the negative health impact of tobacco is weak, weaker than the existing regulation.
For example, the tobacco bill does not require health warnings on cigarette packs to use images, only text. In the existing regulation, all cigarette packs are required to include a health warning with picture.
Overlap
In terms of its substance, Julius said, the bill overlaps with 14 other laws, such as the Health, Plantation, Farmer Protection and Empowerment laws, as well the Customs Law. Many of the things regulated in the bill are already regulated by other laws.
The tobacco bill will eliminate nine Constitutional Court rulings related to tobacco control, which prioritize health matters over other interests, including those of the industry. Not to mention the hundreds of regional regulations related to tobacco control.
In fact, the tobacco bill includes the notion of keretek, clove cigarettes being a part of cultural heritage. The addictive nature of tobacco products and their effect on health, which should be discussed when deliberating the bill, is also not found in the bill. “The tobacco bill puts the interest of the cigarette industry first,” Julius said.
40 percent still imported
House of Representatives Legislative Body deputy chairman from the Golkar Party Firman Subagyo said that the tobacco bill was drafted solely to protect and defend tobacco farmers. The bill stipulates that tobacco imports must be at most 20 percent of the total national demand. At the moment, tobacco imports reached 40 to 50 percent of demand. The bill also required cigarette factories to work with farmers.
Separately, Industry Ministry acting secretary general Haris Munandar said that the interests of the industry must still be heeded to without turning a blind eye to the public’s health. “On one hand, there are health concerns, while on the other hand, Indonesia still needs to boost employment,” Haris said.
Head of the Tobacco Control Special Body of the Public Health Scholars Association Widyastuti Soerojo said that based on the empirical evidence of the size of the tobacco agricultural land, productivity and weather factor disturbances, it would be difficult to meet the target of a minimum of 80 percent domestic tobacco supply. The shortage of tobacco leaves will eventually be covered by imports.
The Agriculture Ministry’s director of seasonal crops and herbs, Agus Wahyudi, said that even though there is an increase in the size of tobacco plantation areas from 192,809 hectares in 2013 to 218,738 ha in 2015 and tobacco production of 164,448 tons in 2013 to 202,332 tons in 2015, the trend of land area and production has shown a decline.
Furthermore, the facts on the fields indicate that tobacco farmers have in fact been disadvantaged. Tuhar, the Indonesia Tobacco Farmers Association’s head in Kledung district, Temanggung regency, said that tobacco farmers are often entangled in debt from loans offered by cigarette factories.
Widyastuti stressed that the increase in cigarette production for the interest of business cannot be regulated under the same legal umbrella as that for health protection, which aims to reduce cigarette consumption. Therefore, the tobacco bill, which aims to force the two contradictory objectives into one law, must be annulled from the very start.
