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ndonesia is fighting a losing battle against cigarettes and the health community has not one ally within the government or among other elected state officials, as all of them, reportedly, are being tightly controlled by the tobacco industry.

Low prices and loose regulations have led Indonesia into the top five countries in the world for the number of smokers. Two-thirds, or 67.4 percent, of men over 15 years old smoke, making Indonesia the country with the world’s highest smoking prevalence among males.

For years, members of the health community, including the Health Ministry, have campaigned against tobacco by constantly reminding everyone of the danger of cigarettes in the hope of reducing the alarming prevalence of smoking in the country, in particular among juveniles.

However, these efforts are increasingly looking like beating one’s head against the wall as the government now aims to double the production of cigarettes — to 524.2 billion cigarettes per year — by 2020, the Industry Ministry’s tobacco industry roadmap 2015 states.

The government has also refused to act on advice from the health community and victims of smoking-related illness and ratify the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). Ratification of the treaty would ensure protection for citizens from the effects of tobacco consumption as its provisions include rules that govern the production, sale, distribution and taxation of tobacco, including a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising.

“It’s so hard for us to ratify the FCTC because to do so would require the same understanding across all ministries. How can we go in that direction if other ministries have extremely different opinions?” said Lily Sulistyowati, the Health Ministry’s director of non-communicable diseases.

Indonesia is the only country in Asia yet to sign and ratify the FCTC. The treaty has been ratified by 180 countries, now protecting 90 percent of the world’s population with Zimbabwe being the latest country to join.

Besides pushing for the ratification of the FCTC, the health community has also been pushing for a total ban on cigarette advertising. Ads are believed to greatly influence the public’s acceptance of smoking cigarettes as a normal thing to do.

But once again, the Health Ministry apparently has no government allies on this issue.

“When we designed the pictorial health warnings for cigarette packs, we also wanted to run TV and radio programs. But we were told that we were going too far and trying to manage things outside our authority. [TV and radio] falls under the authority of the Communications and Information Ministry,” said Lily.

The government’s weak stance in the fight against cigarettes is likely to be caused by constant lobbying from tobacco industry, according to Kartono Muhammad, an advisory board member with National Commission on Tobacco Control (Komnas PT).

Tobacco companies are major investors, employers and taxpayers, giving them considerable structural economic power, particularly in relation to the government’s budget.

Proponents of the tobacco industry often note the significant economic contributions it makes, with the government having received Rp 116 trillion from cigarette excise taxes in 2014.
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