Elly Burhaini Faizal, Jakarta – A ministerial regulation on tobacco control (RPP) currently being drafted is part of a campaign to undermine local producers, tobacco industry lobbyists say.
Central Java's Indonesian Tobacco Growers Association (APTI) chairman Nurtantio Wisnubrata said Tuesday that the RPP proposed by the Health Ministry aimed only to shackle Indonesia's tobacco industry, despite its contribution to the country's economy.
Among articles in question in the regulation is a plan to oblige cigarette manufacturers to mention the amount or level of eugenol, the main constituent of clove flower oil, on cigarette packs, implying a restriction on clove cigarettes.
About 93 percent of locally produced cigarettes are clove cigarettes. Less than 10 percent of cigarettes on the domestic market are regular white cigarettes mostly produced by foreign cigarette companies. Regular cigarettes have a small level of eugenol.
"It will threaten our cigarette manufacturers, most of whom produce clove cigarettes," said Nurtantio on the sidelines of the launch of a book on the tobacco industry.
On the other hand, he said that cigarette manufacturers should write more detailed warnings on cigarette packs mentioning that "cigarettes contain more than 4,000 dangerous chemical substances and more than 43 carcinogenic substances". Moreover, they should put graphic warnings on packs showing the dangers of smoking.
"If such a regulation takes effect, our clove cigarette manufacturers, especially small-scale ones, will face severe hardship since they are not ready for this," Nurtantio said.
Indonesia has neither signed nor ratified the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) that was internationally accepted in 2003.
Currently, both the FCTC and the bill on the tobacco industry have been included in the 2010 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas). However, the House of Representatives has not established a special committee to deliberate the regulation.
Smoking clove cigarettes is widespread in Indonesia.
Health risks associated with cigarette smoking include many diseases, such as heart failure, impotence and emphysema, but few people fully understand all of the dangers.
Institut Indonesia Berdikari director Puthut EA said the RPP was part of a plan by foreign companies to take control of the Indonesian market since clove cigarettes were obviously targeted in the RPP. "It will bring our clove cigarette industry to the brink of collapse despite the fact that it has significantly contributed to our economy," he said.
Puthut said the Indonesian cigarette industry contributed about Rp 57 trillion (US$6.61 billion) in taxes to the central government in 2010 and accounted for almost 1 percent of the country's gross domestic product, a sharp increase from the Rp 55 trillion in 2009 and Rp 36 trillion in 2006.
The director of Kudus based-Sumur Tolak Center for Social and Cultural Studies (LS2B), Zamhuri, said the government should take a definite and fair stance in resolving ongoing policy debates related to tobacco control.
"It's okay if the government takes sides with tighter tobacco control for the sake of people's health. However, such a stance may result in heavier consequences for which it will have to prepare alternatives for companies involved in the tobacco industry," Zamhuri told The Jakarta Post.
On several occasions, he said, the government had been inconsistent in coping with hot debates between health groups and tobacco growers associations and cigarette manufacturers on tobacco control.
He said the Industry Ministry, for example, had stated several times that the tobacco industry was one of 10 strategic and prime product industries that the government would strengthen as prime national commodities to support economic growth.
"Seeking more revenue from an industry accused of being a health-destructing business seems a bit contradictory, don't you think? On one side, the government wants to curb the cigarette industry through tighter tobacco control with the excuse that it causes ill health. On the other side, it seeks higher revenue from the industry. What a strange way of thinking that is," Zamhuri said.