COMMENTARY: Don't thank them for smokingSmoking kills — but each puff of nicotine inhaled into a smoker’s lungs feeds the families of tobacco workers. (Shutterstock/-)

Smoking kills — but each puff of nicotine inhaled into a smoker’s lungs feeds the families of tobacco workers. This is the dilemma that the government likes to cite. For a developing economy like Indonesia’s that struggles to industrialize, tobacco, the cultivation of which existed even before independence, is part of a way of life that few people, let alone smokers, can easily leave behind.

This is especially true when a country that is among the world’s five major tobacco producers has loose tobacco controls and is one of the largest markets, the fourth after China, Russia and the United States.

Tobacco tax revenues are even larger than those from the country’s oldest foreign investor, copper and gold miner PT Freeport Indonesia, a minister has said.

However, it is surely wicked to monetize people’s misery. It’s flagrant commercialism, a way to make a living at the expense of others, and in the case of tobacco it is not only money being robbed, but the most precious possession of all: one’s health.

If the government insists on the economic rationale, then people who are sick because of smokingrelated illnesses should not be seen as a burden on the economy. A recent estimate says that the world loses US$1 trillion anually because of people suffering smoking-related illnesses — a tremendous transfer to the healthcare industry.

Indonesia is not unique in its tobacco predicament. Other countries dependent on tobacco have kept the industry, but have adopted measures to control cigarette consumption. It is only a wonder that Indonesia, which has experienced a growing number of young smokers, is still reluctant to implement strict tobacco controls.

About 180 nations have ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which mandates the implementation of high tobacco taxes, smokefree public spaces, warning labels, strict advertising bans and support for stop-smoking services.

Among the world’s largest consumers, only the US and Indonesia have not ratified the treaty.

Unlike the US, Russia and China, which had a decrease in the prevalence of smoking between 2005 and 2015, Indonesia has experienced rising smoking prevalence. A recent study by researchers from Canada’s University of Waterloo and the WHO published in The Lancet Public Health brought up the evidence, proving the government hasn’t done enough to curb its popularity.

The draft tobacco bill that was rejected last year misses out on at least three tobacco control measures.

First, it would not require the pictorial health warnings that have already been mandated by a ministerial regulation and been implemented — making the conspicuous absence of the provision in the bill proof of its disregard for tobacco control.

Second, there would be no clear rejection of advertising and promotion in the bill. With the industry’s strong support for culture and sports, advertising and promotional activities are still allowed with restrictions, such as limited airtime on radio and television.

Cigarette ads also still appear in the shops and supermarkets that sell them, making the brands and shapes of cigarettes still largely visible in public. The Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance, a tobacco control advocacy group, reported that in the region only Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines still allow advertising at the points of sale.

Third, the bill is missing high taxation on cigarettes and a mandatory allocation for health programs.

Earmarking tobacco tax revenues for health purposes is common in other countries, including in the US and our neighboring countries.

In Thailand, the taxes are allocated to the Thai Health Foundation, which uses the funds on campaigns for tobacco prevention and healthy lifestyle promotion.

In the Philippines, the Department of Health manages the earmarked funds and allocates them for medical assistance, facilities and other health programs.

Currently, the total taxes imposed on a cigarette pack in Indonesia are about half of its retail price, lower than the 75 percent suggested by the WHO.

A ministerial decree has mandated that some of the funds be allocated to regencies and municipalities and managed by local administrations, but there is no obligation to spend them on health programs, negating the impact of imposed taxes on preventing tobacco consumption.

The idea of allocating the taxes for health programs was also raised last year in a proposal to direct allocation of the funds to the National Health Insurance (JKN), a less common practice among countries where the taxes are dedicated to preventive programs. The proposal was ruled out as the government argued there was no supporting regulation for the suggested policy.

Amid the relatively stagnant sales of cigarettes over the past two years, the government was worried about a decline in tobacco tax revenues, which account for more or less 10 percent of its total revenues, should it add more taxes.

If the government decides to give the tobacco bill a shot, it should definitely include these control measures to end tobacco promotion, especially exposure to young people. What would be even better is if it precedes the deliberation with Indonesia’s ratification of the tobacco control convention.

Implementation of tobacco controls will not end the industry. Addiction doesn’t need encouragement as vices come naturally like death and illness.

All we need to do is to stop giving the illusion that there’s pleasure in dying.



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