Surabaya, Indonesia - anti-smoking bylaw 10/2009 - FOR REAL??

November 2, 2008 - A new anti-smoking bylaw for Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, will impose sanctions on people caught smoking in public areas taking effect in October 2009. Under the regulation, public spaces are defined as any public area, but authorities will most probably focus on ports, bus terminals, railway stations, public transportation vehicles, government buildings, hospitals, hotels and campuses - which may designate limited areas for smoking. Violators will face maximum fines of IDR 50 million (EUR 3,944) and/or three months' imprisonment for anyone caught smoking in public spaces. (Council approves sanctions for smokersTobacco Journal International, 10/25/2008)

Amin Subarkah, chairman of the East Java Indonesian Tobacco Farmers Association (APTI), said that tobacco growers and cigarette makers and workers have had no objections to bylaws on smoking restrictions in public spaces to prevent children from smoking. Referring to a recently passed bylaw restricting smoking in public spaces in Surabaya and a similar municipal circular passed in Malang, Amin said tobacco farmers would also campaign for the bylaw but city administrations should also pay more attention to the fate of millions of tobacco farmers. (Tobacco farmers appreciate bylaws restricting smokingTobacco Journal International, 10/29/2008)

Just back on September 1, 2008 the East Java branch of the APTI urged the provincial chapter of the MUI (Indonesia Ulemas Council (quasi-government council of Muslim scholar - give guidance on many issues including smoking for Moslems) to reject a proposed edict that would forbid smoking. "It would be more human if the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) switched to a regulation supporting smoking," Abdum Hafidz Azis said at a meeting with the council's executives in Surabaya. Abdul is secretary of the Association of Indonesian Tobacco Farmers (APTI) East Java branch. (Tobacco farmers urge MUI to reject anti-smoking edict, The Jakarta Post Surabaya, 09/01/2008)

Indonesia leaders continue to worry that any tobacco control initiatives that would be enforced may lead to the demise of the tobacco industry. Government officials are concerned that public smoking bans and a further rise in the excise would hurt the cigarette industry and risk the jobs of its millions of workers. The government receives about six percent of its revenue from cigarette production and sales. About one-third of the nation's 230 million people smoke some start as young as five government figures show. In 2005 Philip Morris International paid five billion dollars to acquire a 97 percent stake in H.M. Sampoerna, the third largest cigarette maker in Indonesia. Back in July 2007 Sampoerna began selling a clove-flavored cigarette called Marlboro Mix 9 containing 30mg tar and 1.8mg nicotine. Clove cigarettes are very popular in Indonesia that only one smoker out of 10 prefer standard cigarettes. Indonesia, the world's fifth largest tobacco market is the only nation in Asia which has NOT signed or ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) - the global anti-tobacco treaty.

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