Indonesia: Jakarta Plans to Get Tough on Enforcing No-Smoking Zones

Source from:  Jakarta Globe  12/27/2013

Low awareness about the danger of smoking has hampered the Jakarta administration's efforts to enforce the no-smoking zone bylaw.

"We did conduct monitoring, but it was like playing hide and seek because smokers would only put out their cigarettes when there was an officer. Many people are still not aware that smoking is dangerous," Bambang Sugiyono, assistant to the provincial secretary for health said on Tuesday.

Bambang said the city administration would be stricter in 2014 to enforce the 2005 bylaw stipulating the no-smoking zones in the capital. He added that it was very difficult to ask the prosecutors and judges to set aside their time to handle the violators because smoking in public places only constitutes as a minor violation.

"The best thing we can do right now is to urge people not to smoke. At the very least government buildings should serve as an example," he said.

Bambang said there should be a monitoring team in every public building. Building management should help the government to enforce the bylaw by conducting routine monitoring, he added.

In October Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama announced the city's plan to impose an additional 10 percent tax on cigarettes starting next year.

Half of the earnings, he said, would be used to improve public health services and the enforcement of tobacco regulations in the capital.

The government has calculated that the new policy will mean an additional revenue of Rp 116 trillion ($9.5 billion) for all Indonesian local governments, including Rp 400 billion for the Jakarta government.

At the moment the government excise on cigarettes is set at 36 percent of the base price. With the retail price of a cigarette pack at between Rp 9,000 and Rp 20,000, the suggested excise increase to 46 percent means a gain of less than Rp 500.

Jakarta city councilor Merry Hotma said the new tax was part of the implementation of the 2009 Law on Regional Tax and Retribution, which allows provincial governments to levy taxes on cigarettes at a maximum 10 percent of the excise.

Cigarettes sell for a little more than a dollar per pack of 20 sticks in Indonesia, an amount that is far less than in neighboring Malaysia, Thailand and Papua New Guinea, where a pack goes for between $3 and $5.

In developed countries such as Australia, aggressive taxes push the price of a pack up to $12, and help to keep the rate of smoking-related illness down. Enditem