Indonesia - Rock band involved in TV cigarette ads..

February 22, 2009 - The National Commission for Child Protection/ Komisi Nasional Perlindungan Anak (NCCP) has sent Nidji an open letter complaining about the rock band's involvement in a cigarette ad on TV.

“Nidji’s involvement in the cigarette ad has indirectly called Indonesian children to smoking,” the commission wrote. The commission warned that Indonesia ranks third highest in the world for aggregate levels of tobacco consumption, with the number of children smokers growing each year.

The commission’s letter quoted findings by the Central Statistics Agency that the number of teenagers who smoke (aged 15 to 19) had increased by 144 percent from 1995 to 2004. It also quoted a 2004 study that found smoking had led to the deaths of 427,948 people in 2001 alone - or 1,172 people every day. . . .

“For the sake of children and for the protection of their rights to life, grow and develop, we call on Nidji to reconsider their involvement as the model in the advert,” read the letter, which was signed by the commission chairman Seto Mulyadi and secretary-general Arist Merdeka Sirait.

While stopping short of an outright ban, the Ulema Council, or MUI (a quasi-government council of Muslim scholar - give guidance on many issues including smoking for Moslems), issued a fatwa prohibiting smoking in public places or by pregnant women and children.

The commission urged Indonesia to ratify the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the world's first public health treaty.

Reference: Nidji comes under fire for cigarette ads, The Jakarta Post, 02/20/2009.

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