REPORTER: Adrian Brown

 

 

It would break the rule book in most countries, but in this class, none of the kids are under pressure to butt out. Instead, this school for street kids in East Java reflects an extraordinary trend across Indonesia. More and more children are smoking, and virtually nothing is being done to stop the trend. Irawan is seven and has been smoking since he was five. By 8:00am, he was on his fourth cigarette of the day.

 

IRAWAN (Translation):  I just want to be free.

 

REPORTER:  Tell me how smoking makes you free.

 

IRAWAN (Translation):  I can hang out with my friends and we can smoke together.

 

Indonesians are prolific smokers. They light up more than any other country in the region. Two-thirds of men smoke. A third of the overall population smokes and unlike other nations, their smoking rates show no signs of going down. But it's children who are taking up the habit at an astounding rate.

 

NEWS REPORT: This toddler on the island of Sumatra famous for his nicotine addiction... this toddler slams his head on the floor, even gets sick if he doesn't get his two packs a day.

 

The vision of this 2-year-old Sumatran boy was seen around the world earlier this year. 

 

SETO MULJADI, CHAIRMAN INDOESIAN CHILD PROTECTION COMMISSION (Translation):  We are very serious in our efforts to make sure babies and children don’t smoke.

 

Seto Muljadi is chairman of Indonesia's Child Protection Commission.

 

SETO MULJADI (Translation):  We can see from research by the Child Protection Commission that from 2001 to 2007 over a seven-year period, smoking among children under five increased 400 per cent.

This was due to aggressive promotion, sponsorship and advertising in the media and in public places.

 

While those figures have not been independently verified, Mr Muljadi insists aggressive industry advertising is to blame. Indonesia is one of the few countries in the world where tobacco companies have virtually no restrictions on advertising.   After dark, the tobacco companies can target the prized younger demographic by sponsoring events like this one in Jakarta - the girls, the DJs, the prizes, the handouts - all supplied by the tobacco company. 

 

Indonesia is an advertiser's dream. While the tobacco companies are out on a Saturday night wooing and cajoling the cool young crowd, the effect is felt much wider. Every kid around the world wants to be grown up, but here in Indonesia, there's nothing whatsoever to stop a child pretending to be a grown-up smoker. 

 

REPORTER:  At the moment, there is no law to prevent children smoking cigarettes.

 

DR YUSHARMEN, DIRECTOR GENERAL, INDONESIA’S HEALTH DEPARTMENT:  More specifically, yes, you are right. More specifically.

 

REPORTER: No law at all?

 

DR YUSHARMEN: The law is there, but no specific for the children.

 

REPORTER: Why isn't it more specific?

 

DR YUSHARMEN:  I mean it like this –

 

REPORTER: It's a failure by the government to –

 

DR YUSHARMEN:  No, no...

 

Dr Yusharmen is a director-general in Indonesia's Health Department. A draft law that would ban tobacco advertising is currently stalled in parliament because of opposition from the tobacco industry.

 

REPORTER: Will you ban tobacco advertising in Indonesia? Yes or no?

 

DR YUSHARMEN:  Yeah, that's why –

 

REPORTER:  Yes or no?

 

DR YUSHARMEN: That's why we write down on –

 

REPORTER:  Yes, you will?

 

DR YUSHARMEN: Yes.

 

REPORTER:  You will ban it?

 

DR YUSHARMEN:  Yeah.

 

REPORTER: When, how many years from now – next year?  Is Indonesia should sign the treaty on tobacco like just about every other country in the world?

 

DR YUSHARMEN:  You mention about the treaty. It’s not this our responsible, that’s another …trading.

 

 

REPORTER:  But the health department will presumably be involved?

 

DR YUSHARMEN: No, no …for the trading that’s another.

 

REPORTER:  Do you think Indonesia should sign this treaty?

 

DR YUSHARMEN:  It depends on the content of that one.

 

The content of the Convention on Tobacco Control has remained unchanged since 2003 and 171 other countries have since signed on. These nations have agreed there's a "mortal threat" posed by tobacco consumption. They recognise that "a ban on advertising would reduce the consumption of tobacco," and that "governments need to have effective laws to prohibit the sales of tobacco products to minors." 

 

6 million Indonesians rely on the tobacco trade for their livelihood. The 500 women in this factory inEast Java roll clove-spice kretek cigarettes at an astonishing speed. Hand-rolled kreteks are even given a tax break, which keeps the industry alive and makes Indonesian cigarettes some of the cheapest in the world. So more people have jobs, and 90% of Indonesia's smokers choose kreteks. But when it comes to health risks, factory owners like Harjo won't hear of them.

 

REPORTER:  Do you accept any of the medical arguments about smoking being bad for you, about smoking giving you cancer, about smoking giving you brain tumours?

 

HARJO, FACTORY OWNER (Translation):  We think that smoking kretek is better for you than smoking the regular cigarettes. The ones that contain tobacco, because kretek cigarettes contain cloves - Cloves are a disinfectant, they kill germs, so this is our….. we believe that smoking kreteks is even healthier than regular cigarettes

 

REPORTER:  So kreteks are, in your view, good for you?

 

HARJO: Yeah. Because we also give life to these small people.

 

Harjo even disputes the government's own figures of 200,000 smoking deaths per year.

 

HARJO:  Actually, the poisoning comes from the smoke. So it emits this smoke - it comes from motorcycling everywhere, the pollution. So even the people doing - like a barbecue - so the smoke contents of carbon monoxide - people even being killed in the street because of the pollution. 

 

Imam Anwar Ibrahim has gone to the Koran for answers. 

 

IMAM ANWAR IBRAHIM (Translation):  Almighty God has told us to pray and ask for goodness on earth.

Part of this goodness is good health.

 

 

Ibrahim is from the influential MUI council of Islamic scholars. He's preparing the next stage of the fatwa he declared in March, banning women and children from lighting up. That's despite protests from the tobacco industry. 

 

IMAM ANWAR IBRAHIM (Translation):  We’ll recommend that parliament passes a law banning smoking in public places. There will be specific legislation, a ban on women and children smoking. And central and local governments will be asked to regulate against smoking in public places.  Scientists will be asked to do research into alternative uses for tobacco.

 

For example, we’ll plant tobacco fields with, for example, cloves or other plants, crops that are beneficial. They can change direction.  Tobacco is seen as a crop that fetches a good price. It’s profitable. So it’s an economic issue as well. The government earns a lot from taxes on cigarettes.

 

Around $6 billion is how much the government earns from tobacco sales. With the industry still booming, the tobacco companies would like to keep it that way, so it's no surprise they're trying to silence their critics.

 

REPORTER:  How much money, out of interest, do they offer you? 

 

SETO MULJADI (Translation):  Well, they never really mentioned an amount but they tried to see us, asked to meet us and offered to pay all our expenses.  But we never accepted.

 

REPORTER:  Was that company Sampoerna? 

 

SETO MULJADI (Translation):  Yes – among others!

 

Sampoerna's headquarters is this anonymous skyscraper in the heart of Jakarta. Recently acquired by global tobacco giant Phillip Morris, Sampoerna's offices feel more like a 5-star hotel. They even have non smoking wings.  Ross Ginting is director of corporate affairs for Sampoerna.  

 

REPORTER:  Who are you targeting to buy your cigarettes?

 

ROSS GINTING, DIRECTOR OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS, SAMPOERNA (Translation): We are targeting all segments of the market, obviously all our programs are designed for adults.

 

REPORTER:  You say you don't target children and you make that very clear. But you don't make it difficult for children to buy tobacco products, do you?  

 

ROSS GINTING (Translation):   We all need to understand this - for us it is clear that smoking is dangerous and our programs are aimed at adults. So it is very important and we would very much like the government to create a regulation that is comprehensive, fair and balanced to solve this industry’s problems.

 

REPORTER:  So to be absolutely clear, you do want an age limit put on people who can buy tobacco?

 

ROSS GINTING (Translation): Exactly, exactly – we want clear regulations so that children can not access cigarettes…

 

REPORTER: Do you smoke? 

 

ROSS GINTING (Translation):   No I don’t smoke.

 

REPORTER:  So you don't believe in your product? 

 

ROSS GINTING (Translation):   It’s not that – I know smoking is dangerous. I am an adult and I choose not to smoke.

 

While Sampoerna's carefully scripted messages speak of change somewhere in the future, right now kids like Irawan can smoke what they like.

 

 

GEORGE NEGUS:   It's that old saying - where there's smoke, there's not fire, there's Indonesia. Adrian Brown reporting. Tell us your thoughts on Adrian's story, or any of tonight's yarns, on our website, where there's also more information on the WHO treaty against tabacco that Indonesia - shamefully – is not yet to sign.

 

 

Reporter/Camera

ADRIAN BROWN

 

Producer

ANGUS LLEWELLYN

 

Fixer

DIAN ESTEY

 

Editors

ROWAN TUCKER-EVANS

WAYNE LOVE

 

Translations/Subtitling

ROBYN FALLICK

 

Original Music composed by

VICKI HANSEN 

 

10th October 2010