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Laksamana.Net - Jakarta Governor
Sutiyoso plans to issue a regulation banning smoking in public places in the
national capital.
"The president has just signed a government regulation
banning smoking in school environments. I’m keen on this and will immediately
follow it up. We will formulate a provincial government decree banning smoking
in public places,” he was quoted as saying Friday (23/7/04) by detikcom online
news portal.
President Megawati Sukarnoputri, in a ceremony held Friday
in North Jakarta on the occasion of National Children’s Day, issued the
regulation banning smoking in schools.
Sutiyoso said he would go further
by also banning smoking in buses, lifts, malls and all air-conditioned public
buildings.
"It is appropriate that non-smokers can be separated from
smokers so they will not become casualties. This has never before happened in
Jakarta or Indonesia until now,” he said.
The governor said he would
discuss his proposal with the new Jakarta legislative assembly to be installed
in October.
Sutiyoso has already banned smoking at City Hall, with the
issuance of a decree on February 9.
City administration officials
wishing to smoke must now go outside or puff away in designated smoking rooms.
The decree also prohibits the sale of cigarettes on City Hall premises and bans
the distribution of cigarettes as gifts to officials.
Despite his
opposition to smoking, Sutiyoso is yet to ban old smoke-belching public
transport vehicles that contribute to much of Jakarta’s pollution. Leaded
gasoline is also yet to be banned.
In Bogor, south of Jakarta, officials
in late May launched a pilot project for a ban on smoking in public places. The
project covers 20 schools and 10 offices.
Indonesia is well known for
its ubiquitous and highly addictive killer clove cigarettes, known locally as
kretek.
At least two-thirds of Indonesian men smoke and the
numbers of smokers are rising, with Indonesians smoking an estimated 240 billion
cigarettes every year.
Tobacco taxes contribute about Rp30 trillion
($3.3 billion) annually to the state's coffers. The nation’s top kretek
producer, Gudang Garam, is also the nation’s biggest excise tax contributor.