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Funding Assistance for Small Cigarette Manufacturers 

The Industry and Trade Regional Office for Banyuwangi will provide funding assistance to 11 out of 20 small cigarette manufacturers amounting to Rp250 million.

The assistance is to help them improve quality in order to be able to compete in the market.

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Indonesian Collector Oei Turns Tobacco Into Art, Sees Slowdown  

Indonesian art collector Oei Hong Djien is planning his third museum. There isn't room in his existing two galleries and house for more than a fraction of the 1,500 works he acquired over the past three decades.

Oei, 69, was one of the first to systematically buy contemporary Indonesian art, long before prices for the nation's artists began to rise exponentially in 2006. . . .

Oei studied pathological anatomy in the Netherlands before returning to Magelang in 1968 after the death of his father to take over the family tobacco business. On the wall next to the entrance of his modern-art museum is a two-story marble relief by Widayat depicting the cycle of the tobacco plant, from seedlings through to the bales of dried leaves in a warehouse and, below, an art gallery.

Tobacco Warehouse

``We are turning tobacco into art,'' grinned Oei, looking at the mural. It's a tobacco warehouse that Oei plans to convert into the new museum. Work will probably start after the current harvest, he said.

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• Ramadan fast means hard times for smokers 

"I don't want to quit smoking," said Romaneh, 42, who lights one Gauloise Light with another, inhaling deeply in between sips from a glass of thick Arabic coffee. "Smoking is a joy."

Like Romaneh in this West Bank Palestinian city, millions of Muslim smokers get on a nicotine roller coaster during Ramadan, which ends this year in late September. But health campaigners are increasingly trying to get them to quit altogether, using Ramadan as a springboard for anti-smoking drives.

A London mosque runs a "Stop smoking for Ramadan, stop smoking for life" appeal on its Web site, and a Saudi volunteer network is trying to bring that message to 10 million Arab Internet users. . . .

Clerics might be reluctant to issue a fatwa that forces Muslims to choose between faith and addiction.

"(Even) if you say 'haram,' people will keep smoking because they are addicted," said Imam B. Prasodjo, a sociologist in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, where almost two-thirds of men smoke. Prasodjo is trying to persuade Muslim leaders to at least impose a ban on cigarette advertising. . . .

Smoking is embedded in the culture of many Muslim countries. About 63 percent of men smoke in Jordan; 49 percent in Tunisia; 42 percent in Syria; 38 percent in the Palestinian territories and 28 percent each in Lebanon and Morocco. Few women smoke because of cultural taboos.

Cigarette packs in Egypt carry graphic images such as a dying man in an oxygen mask. In Jordan, billboards warn about the risks. In Lebanon, many restaurants have no-smoking zones.

But it remains a battle, even — and perhaps especially — during Ramadan.

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Smoking ban still unimplemented  

Places of worship in the city have committed the most serious violations of the ban on smoking in public places, recent data from the Jakarta Environmental Management Board reveals.

"We checked 15 places of worship throughout Jakarta. None of them had posted no-smoking signs," the board's environmental pollution control division head Ridwan Panjaitan told a seminar on Wednesday.

The board monitored five types of public space last year to check on compliance with local regulations requiring smoking be restricted to certain areas. The board also checked health facilities, workplaces, schools and public transportation.

He said many people still smoked in the parking lots and yards surrounding mosques, churches and temples.

Speaking during the seminar on obstacles to the implementation of the smoking ban bylaw, held by the Indonesian Consumers Foundation, Ridwan said schools and universities ranked second in number of violations.

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Indonesia Tobacco Sales Grow, Raising Health Fears 

Indonesians are smoking more than ever before. The World Health Organization says more than 70 million adults regularly smoke, a six-fold increase over the past 40 years. An estimated 400,000 people will die this year from smoking-related diseases.

But Finance Minister Mulyani Indrawati said at a recent tobacco conference that Indonesia needs a healthy tobacco industry.

Mulyani says the economy and job creation are the government's number-one priority. And Indonesia's tobacco industry, through farming, production and sales provides an economic lifeline for millions of people.

University of Indonesia Public Health Professor Hasbullah Thabrany, says this picture is incomplete because the government does not pay for the health effects of smoking. . . .

Doctor Sarah Barber has just completed a study of Indonesia's tobacco economy. She says raising taxes would reduce smoking rates and help the economy.

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• Indonesia Tobacco Sales Grow, Raising Health Fears 

Smoking rates in Indonesia have increased significantly in recent years, placing it with India and China as the nations with the highest smoking rates. Katie Hamann met with researchers at a recent tobacco conference in the capital, Jakarta. They challenge the government's position that the tobacco industry is vital to economic growth in Indonesia. . . .

Barber says tobacco consumes a disproportionate part of family income, with smokers spending more than five times as much on cigarettes than on health care and education.

"Households with smokers are dedicating a very, very large amount of money on tobacco and this has serious welfare implications for the rest of their family," added Barber. "We also know that paternal smoking is a positive predictor of malnutrition."

Barber's research also shows that the government would benefit considerably from an increase in taxes. The industry now contributes more than $4.5 billion in taxes, accounting for as much as 10 percent of revenue. Raising taxes, she says, could increase that amount.

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Agung Laksono kicks smoking habit 

Anyone who has smoked cigarettes for a long period of time may find it difficult to kick the unhealthy habit -- but Agung Laksono says he is finally free of his nicotine addiction.

The House of Representatives spokesman says he forced himself to stop smoking, a bad habit he picked up when he was 13.

"I had been smoking since I was in high school and smoked heavier when started working. I could smoke up to five packs a day," Agung was quoted as saying by Antara on Tuesday.

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Enforcement of smoking bans 'weak' 

Smoking in public places has been banned in Jakarta since 2005, but the city administration has been reluctant to enforce the bylaw and sanction violators, the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) said.

"Enforcement is weak. Nobody is punished for smoking in public places," the coordinator of tobacco control at YLKI, Tulus Abadi, told reporters recently.

According to the city's air pollution control bylaw, smoking is banned in certain public or populated places, including healthcare facilities, schools, on public transportation, places of worship and the workplace.

Head of the Jakarta Environmental Management Agency, Budirama Natakusumah, said any measures that involved the courts slowed the process to punish scofflaws.

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LETTER: Endorsing MUI smoking ban 

Good to see someone at least thinking about taking the lead on this major social and health issue. But where is the government's leadership? Why isn't the health minister taking the lead? Or, better still, the President?

The health and social impacts of tobacco is an issue for all Indonesians and should not be left solely to a religious group to take the lead.

The economic and social costs of smoking will always far exceed the economic benefits from tobacco. . . .

Wake up Indonesia. Tobacco is a deadly drug and is killing your citizens -- your fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and your children.

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• Govt shuts down 1,500 cigarette factories  

The government has since early this year shut down at least 1,500 cigarette factories in the country for various reasons.

"There are many reasons to shut down the cigarette factories, ranging from the absence of official permits, abuse of excise tapes to the illegal sales of cigarettes," Director General of Customs and Excise Anwar Suprijadi said here on Wednesday.

Unless the cigarette factories were shut down, they would have the potential to inflict losses to legally operating cigarette makers and the state, he said.

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• Commission seeks MUI support to ban underage smoking 

Smoking should be declared haram (unlawful in Islam) to protect children from its harmful effects, the National Commission for Child Protection has told the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI).

"Changing the old paradigm, which regards smoking as a normal thing, must be supported by all elements of society, including the faith community," commission chairman Seto Mulyadi said on the sidelines of a meeting with MUI leaders Tuesday. . . .

"Parents, families, teachers and all adults around children, including the tobacco industry, must be aware of this prohibition. Advertisements targeting children as their customers should be limited," said Amidhan.

"However, to turn that stance into a fatwa (decree) we need to bring the discussion in the Ijtima' Ulama assembly, which will be held at the end of this year in West Sumatra," Amidhan said.

The Ijtima' Ulama assembly is a gathering of MUI's fatwa commissions nationwide, which discuss and decide on new fatwa.

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Alicia Keys Sets Example for Entertainment Industry By Withdrawing Tobacco Sponsorship of Indonesia Concert  

U.S. singing star Alicia Keys has set a positive example that should be followed by musicians and entertainers worldwide by demanding the withdrawal of tobacco industry sponsorship of her July 31 concert in Jakarta, Indonesia. We applaud Ms. Keys for taking quick action to disassociate herself from the tobacco industry and to prevent her name, image and talent from continuing to be used to market cigarettes to children. It is critical that the tobacco company involved, Philip Morris International/Sampoerna, and concert promoters immediately end the sponsorship and all tobacco-related marketing and branding associated with the concert.

We call on all involved in the music and entertainment industry, including performers and promoters, to follow Alicia Keys' example and adopt policies of rejecting all tobacco sponsorship and other tobacco promotions. We also call on tobacco companies to immediately cease all such sponsorships and promotions. . . .

In the Philippines, those seeking tickets to an August 30 reunion concert of the famous Filipino band Eraserheads are being directed to www.marlboro.ph, a web site run by Philip Morris International's Philippines subsidiary. The Eraserheads have been called the "Beatles of the Philippines" and the reunion concert has generated enormous online buzz that often mentions the Marlboro web site, generating positive publicity for the world's best-selling cigarette brand. Philippines authorities should investigate whether marketing for this concert violates a national law that, as of July 1, 2008, bans tobacco sponsorships and all forms of tobacco advertising in mass media, including the Internet.

These concert sponsorships and promotions indicate that Philip Morris International continues to engage in cigarette marketing that attracts children, especially in developing countries where the company may think it can escape public scrutiny.

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• House stalls on tobacco control convention 

The House of Representatives' legislation committee has been accused of curbing efforts to adopt a UN anti-tobacco convention aimed at reducing global consumption of tobacco for its negative impacts on health.

The Indonesian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (IFPPD) said its attempts to include a draft law on tobacco control in the national legislation program had three times been rejected by the committee.

The legislation committee chairman said the bill was "not urgent" for discussion, IFPPD executive director Sri Utari Setyawati said at a press conference here Friday. . . .

Indonesia is among 36 countries worldwide, and the only country in Southeast Asia, which was yet to ratify the UN convention. Other non-party countries include the United States, Argentina, Italy, Switzerland, Somalia, Afghanistan and Mozambique.

Recently, the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) and other non-governmental organizations filed a class action lawsuit against the government and the House for their reluctance to ratify the treaty, accusing them of failing to protect Indonesians from the dangers of smoking.

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Bentoel to Spend $88 Million on Cigarette Plants, Post Reports  

PT Bentoel Internasional Investama, Indonesia's third-largest publicly traded cigarette maker, plans to invest 800 billion rupiah ($88 million) this year to build new plants, the Jakarta Post reported.

The new cigarette plants will use tobacco bought from Brazil, India, China, Greece, Turkey, U.S. and Indonesia, the newspaper reported, citing Satrija Budi Wibawa, corporate secretary of the company's cigarette making unit.

Bentoel makes cigarettes including Star Mild and X Mild.

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• GG legacy lives on despite losing top leader 

PT Gudang Garam, the country's second largest cigarette producer, knows full well its customers, mostly in the middle to low-income demographic, will not jump ship quite so easily to other cigarette brands or even think of quitting.

But netting new customers is much harder for Gudang Garam than maintaining their existing ones, as proven when the company relinquished its crown as the country's top cigarette maker to rival PT H.M. Sampoerna in the first quarter of 2007.

Since then, Sampoerna has cornered 24 percent of the market, followed by Gudang Garam with 23 percent and Djarum with 20 percent. In 1997, Gudang Garam controlled a whopping 49 percent of the lucrative national cigarette market.

However, with a great number of loyal customers in the lower-income band, Gudang Garam can still do well on the market, says BNI Securities analyst Akhmad Nurcahyadi.

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