Yet, the global effort is like a mission impossible as tobacco is not only a threat to health but also a commodity that helps generate the economy where the interference of the cigarette industry into the government in Asian countries is so great.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has adopted the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) as part of the efforts to eliminate the ill effects of tobacco on human health. The FCTC also is initiated by developing countries of the WHO members and was agreed in 2003.
Ironically, Indonesia, which is one of the initiators along with Latin America, India, and Thailand, has yet to accede to the convention.
The government`s hesitance to ratify the convention is viewed as odd, especially during a time when 180 countries in the world have acceded to the FCTC, realizing the importance of controlling tobacco consumption.
Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) Senior Advisor Mary Assunta stated that the cigarette industry`s intervention in the governments of Asian countries was quite high.
"Japan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia are the three countries with the highest cigarette industry intervention index in Asia," Assunta noted at a press conference at the 12th Asia Pacific Conference on Tobacco and Health (APACT12th) in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Friday.
The Indonesian government has yet to accede to the convention as over six million people earn a livelihood as workers in tobacco industries or as tobacco farmers. Tobacco also contributes to trillions of rupiah in taxes to the state.
Tobacco is a big source of income in Indonesia. There are about 6.1 million people working in the tobacco industries. Ratifying the convention will kill them.
Admittedly, cigarettes contribute huge taxes to the state. In 2012 and 2013, for example, the country received at least Rp84 trillion and Rp85 trillion, respectively, in tobacco taxes. The figures rose to Rp112.5 trillion and Rp139.5 trillion, respectively, in 2014 and 2015.
In 2010, tobacco taxes were worth Rp63 trillion and drastically rose over 100 percent to Rp139.5 trillion in 2015. This is about eight percent of the revenues in the 2015 state budget.
So, from an economic point of view, tobacco is a source of revenue for the state and income for millions of people, which is why the government has not yet ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco.
However, it is also a fact in the field that smokers continue to increase in numbers.
Indonesian Minister of Empowerment of Women and Child Protection Yohana Yambise has expressed concern over the increasing number of children taking to smoking in the country.
"A total of 54 percent of Indonesian children are now smokers," she noted after a limited cabinet meeting on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control led by President Widodo in Jakarta two years ago.
Therefore, tobacco is like an epidemic that traps younger generation. The tobacco industry, of course, targets the younger generations to maintain the survival of its business.
Chairman of the 12th Asia Pacific Conference on Tobacco or Health (APACT) Arifin Panigoro emphasized that the tobacco trap is a real threat that all nations of the world need to watch out for.
"Tobacco is a threat to our children, teenagers, and nation," Panigoro remarked at the opening of the 12th APACT in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Wednesday.
Panigoro stated that several countries in the world had applied strict tobacco control rules to protect children and adolescents as the future of the nation.
Hence, tobacco control activists from 29 Asia-Pacific countries are in Nusa Dua to attend the 12th APACT to do more to protect children and adolescents from the threat of the tobacco epidemic.
"People from 29 countries are present not just to discuss but to also act," Panigoro noted.
According to Panigoro, civil society and the governments of countries of the world must act to control tobacco to encourage the ban on advertising, promotion, and sponsorship of cigarettes, and the imposition of high taxes on tobacco, among others.
"In Indonesia, the price of cigarettes is a quarter of the price in Malaysia," he pointed out.
APACT was first held in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1989. The last meeting was held in Beijing, China, in 2016.
According to Yembise, Indonesia has faced numerous challenges in tobacco control to protect children from its negative effects.
"It is disappointing, as many Indonesian children smoke. We have to do something," Yembise remarked during the 12th Asia Pacific Conference on Tobacco or Health (12th APACT) in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Thursday.
Based on the cigarette industry`s internal documents, the minister noted that the industry had targeted teenagers to become beginner smokers. Young people, who smoke, are contributors to the tobacco industry`s revenue.
By targeting children to become beginner smokers, the tobacco industry has violated children`s rights, she affirmed.
"Beginner smokers in Indonesia are getting younger, and the number is increasing," the minister remarked. Indonesia is the third-largest cigarette consumer after China and Russia.
The 12th APACT was held in Nusa Dua, Bali, and chaired by Panigoro. The host in Indonesia is the National Tobacco Control Committee along with several other tobacco control support organizations.
(A014/INE)
Reporter: Andi Abdussalam
Editor: Bustanuddin
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
