Rangga Prakoso – Tobacco control activists are continuing their long-running campaign against legislators accused of dropping a key clause from the 2009 Health Bill, demanding that a halted police probe into the matter be revived.

Ki Agus Ahmad, a lawyer for the Coalition Against Corruption of the Anti-Tobacco Clause (Kakar), said the group had filed a motion with the South Jakarta District Court on Monday that sought to invalidate the police's order to drop the investigation.

"We're demanding that the National Police's general crimes unit resume its investigation into why the clause was dropped and submit the case to the Attorney General's Office for prosecution," he told reporters outside the courthouse.

The controversy stems from the revelation, shortly after the passage of the amended health law in 2009, that a clause classifying tobacco as an addictive substance had been omitted from the final draft.

Critics contended that it had been done at the behest of the country's powerful tobacco lobby, and the House of Representatives took quick action to reinstate the clause. Kakar, led by Hakim Sorimuda Pohan, a former lawmaker who helped draft the amended bill, then reported Ribka Tjiptaning, the chairwoman of the House's health oversight commission, to the police for the omission.

The case against her was dropped in October 2010, with police saying the omission did not constitute a crime.

Agus said the police's interpretation of the case was flawed, arguing that under the Criminal Code, Ribka and two other legislators responsible for the final draft, Aisyah Salekan and Maryani Baramuli, could be charged with document fraud and forging a signature. The crimes carry a maximum prison sentence of seven years.

"The fact that the omitted clause was reinstated doesn't preclude us from pursuing criminal charges against these legislators, who must be held to account for their actions," Agus said.

Testifying at Monday's hearing, Adj. Sr. Comr. Yusmar Latief, a representative from the police's general crimes unit, said the decision to drop the case was based on a recommendation from renowned criminal law expert Chairul Huda that the omission of the clause was not a crime.

He also acknowledged that among the evidence gathered before the case was dropped was handwritten notes signed by Ribka, Aisyah and Maryani, which said "Change: Article 113, Clause 2 to be dropped."

He said that while this curtailed version of the bill was passed by the House, the actual draft that was sent to the Health Ministry and the State Secretariat for the president's signature retained the dropped clause.

"We confirmed that the bill signed by the president contained the clause in question, so our reasoning was that there had been no crime committed by the three legislators," Yusmar said.