7,000 tobacco farmers rally against proposed smoking law

An estimated 7,000 tobacco farmers rallied outside the Health Ministry office, Jakarta, on Tuesday against a proposed Tobacco Impact Control legislation that would require cigarette packs in Indonesia to carry a graphic warning on their cover, limit tobacco advertising and regulate smoking in buildings.

The farmers then marched to the Justice and Human Rights Ministry before ending at the People’s Welfare Coordinating Ministry on Jalan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta. 

“If the regulation is passed, we, the farmers, will lose buyers,” The Jakarta Globe quotes Temanggung Regency, Central Java, tobacco farmer Musafid as saying.

“At the moment, the local cigarette industry has been reluctant to buy our harvest.”

The farmers, who support the National Coalition to Save the Clove, travelled to Jakarta from places such as Temanggung, Wonosobo, Kediri, Madura, West Java, Central Java, and Sumatera aboard 100 buses.

The newspaper quotes Tobacco Farmers Alliance, East Java, director Amin Subarkah as saying: “We’re not against the regulation, it is alright to pass tobacco control in government regulations, but we haven’t been asked our opinion before lawmakers drafted the regulation.

“Why is the Health Ministry dealing with things that are not related to health, like advertisement laws and tobacco warnings?

“It should be done by the Trade Ministry.”

The newspaper quotes coordinating minister for People’s Welfare Agung Laksono as saying the government had no plans to stall the regulation. 

“The regulation won’t even ban people from smoking, let alone ban farmers from planting tobacco,” he told a media conference.

“I don’t think it is necessary to delay it.”

But Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar has called for a delay in implementation of the proposed legislation saying the new law would cost about 500,000 their jobs.

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo announced in April that his administration would comply with the Constitutional Court ruling that requires building owners to provide smoking rooms.

The governor, who had earlier issued a decree that would have prohibited the smoking rooms, as said the administration would now: “We will not stop our efforts in upholding the smoking ban as mandated by the bylaw.

“We will boost our efforts and we will also seek help from NGOs to help monitor our efforts,” he said.

The Constitutional Court finalised its judicial review of the 2009 Health Law regarding smoke-free zones, ordering all government and privately owned buildings to “isolate” smokers in a special room earlier the same month.

In September, Parisada Hindu Dharma Indonesia, Bali chapter, chairman Gusti Ngurah Sudiana announced that the country's major Hindu organisation would support the banning of smoking in temples.

Temples were the hub of Balinese Hindu society and should be kept smoke-free, he said. “Essentially, anywhere in the temple area should be free of cigarettes, not just the middle or inner temple,” he said.

The chairman was speaking during a meeting with government officials in Denpasar to discuss developing an island-wide series of anti-smoking policies entitled Commitment to Development and Application of No Smoking Zone Policy.

Data Processing and Information Centre representative Dr Rohani Budi told the meeting that treating smoking-related health issues in Indonesia was costing an average of rupiah 186 trillion, about US$21.3 billion, each year.

“This amount is triple the cigarette tax revenue obtained by the government each year, which amounts to rupiah 62 trillion, about $7.3 billion,” he said.-The Southeast Asian Times (July 06, 2012)