Indonesia is one of the world’s largest cigarette markets. According to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), in 2021, the country had 59.3 million smokers, 13% of whom were young people under the age of 18. The government institute notes that “Cigarettes are the second most consumed item after rice by the country’s poor”.
In this context, the government intends to curb consumption by acting on the price of the package. “Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has claimed that the 10% increase in cigarette tax, apart from bailing out state coffers, is aimed at protecting children from the dangers of smoking,” reports Tempo Newspaper.
However, the daily recalls that in 2021 the government had already increased this tax by 12.5%, without this leading to a drop in smoking. Quite the contrary: 321.31 billion cigarettes were smoked that year, compared to 298.4 billion in 2020. “No matter what the price, cigarettes will continue to be purchased by nicotine addicts, and primarily by teenagers who have a motto of ‘a smoke first’.”
Tackle advertising?
According Tempo Newspaper, tobacco manufacturers pretend to suffer losses because of the increase in taxes, when these do not produce a visible effect. According to the Jakarta daily, other measures seem more obvious to reduce smoking among young people, in particular the supervision of advertising. “In 2021, advertisements for cigarettes on the Internet accounted for only 1.9% of total advertisements. In 2022, this figure has increased to 21.4%. Not to mention the massive sponsorship by cigarette manufacturers of major concerts, especially musical ones. dangdut, very popular in the villages.”
“In front of schools, many stalls continue to sell single cigarettes to children.”
But it would take a lot of courage for the government to take on the all-powerful tobacco industry. This sector employed nearly 6 million Indonesians in 2019, including 4.29 million in manufacturing and distribution, and 1.7 million in plantations. That year, during a dialogue with the major national cigarette companies, the Indonesian Minister of Industry, Airlangga Hartarto, stated that “the tobacco industry [faisait] part of the history of the Indonesian nation and culture”, reports the ministry’s website.