Febriamy Hutapea & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The government and the House of Representatives were under strong pressure on Tuesday to investigate how a section in the newly enacted Health Law that identifies tobacco as an addictive substance had disappeared.
Ade Irawan, coordinator for public service affairs at Indonesian Corruption Watch, said she didn't believe the official excuse that it was a fluke.
"We argue that this is not just an accident, especially when we know that some tobacco companies lobbied legislators when they reviewed the last Health Law [No. 23/1992]," Ade said on Tuesday. "This time, I don't know if cigarette makers were involved, but the article on tobacco is gone."
The ICW has urged the president and the National Police to establish a special team to investigate the matter, he said, adding that it would file a complaint with the police.
The House's ethics council must also conduct a separate investigation to determine if any lawmakers were involved in the matter, he said.
Former lawmaker Hakim Sarimuda Pohan – who was a member of House Commission IX oversees population, health, manpower and transmigration – also urged the House's ethics council and the police to investigate.
"We want this case to be cleared. Who was behind this? There must be invisible hands that worked on this," Hakim told the Jakarta Globe.
Hakim said he believed that the article could not have been dropped due to a technical error because the section disappeared from the legislation but was present in the explanation chapter.
"There has been a betrayal of the highest decisions of governmental bodies that have the authority to create laws," Hakim said.
State Secretary Hatta Rajasa said he was baffled by the matter.He said the article was already missing when his office received the draft legislation from the House to be signed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Rajasa said Yudhoyono had told him to "settle the matter to prevent public doubt."
Hatta said it would have been difficult for someone to deliberately manipulate the legislation.