Jakarta Globe, Dessy Sagita, Jun 04, 2014
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| Two Indonesian senior high school students smoke cigarettes after school in Bogor on May 31, 2013. (EPA Photo/Adi Weda) |
Jakarta.
Indonesian health minister Nafsiah Mboi has warned the tobacco industry to
start printing graphic images associated with harm from smoking on cigarette
packets before the June deadline passes.
“The
regulation was not issued all of sudden, it has existed since 2009, so the
pictorial health warnings should be printed and distributed by June 24,”
Nafsiah told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday.
A
government regulation on tobacco control, which was issued in December 2012
following the introduction of the 2009 health law, stipulated that at least 40
percent of cigarette packaging should be covered in images of tobacco-related
disease.
The
industry was given 18 months to comply with the regulation, but as the deadline
nears, the tobacco industry and pro-tobacco lobbyists have argued the start
date for the new requirement is unclear.
However,
Nafsiah has criticized the Indonesian tobacco industry for stalling.
She said
they had no problem following regulations in other countries.
“When they
exported their products overseas they didn’t mind at all to print all the
graphic images that sometimes comprise 80 percent of the package,” she said.
“You use the images abroad but you don’t want to use them in your own country
hoping that Indonesians will keep puffing, this is too cruel.”
Nafsiah
warned that the 2009 health law clearly stipulated that anyone who produced or
imported cigarettes to Indonesia without the pictorial health warning could
receive a five year prison sentence or Rp 500 million ($42,000) fine.
While
speaking to the Jakarta Globe, Nafsiah also struck out at House Speaker Marzuki
Ali, who she said had hampered the ministry’s effort to move forward with
ratification of the World Health Organizations’ Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control (FCTC).
Although it
was actively involved in drafting the treaty, Indonesia remains the only
country in the Asia-Pacific region not to have ratified the convention.
In
December, Indonesian ministries agreed the country must sign the treaty to
protect the nation from the danger of tobacco addiction.
But several
lawmakers, including Marzuki Ali, sent a letter to president Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, which asked him to postpone the signing because a tobacco bill was
being deliberated in the house.
“Tobacco
farmers needn’t be overly concerned or start holding protests just yet,”
Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam told reporters in March. “I don’t believe the
president is in any rush to ratify this convention.”
Nafsiah
said that Indonesia’s addiction to tobacco had reached an emergency level,
especially for the the poorest 45 percent of households in the country.
“I used to
respect the House Speaker but now I am thoroughly disappointed,” she said.
“Lawmakers were voted by the public to represent and protect the people, it is
very sad that the House Speaker chose to side with the tobacco industry instead
of his constituents.”
Tobacco
control activists have repeatedly criticized the bill, claiming it was
initiated and funded by the tobacco industry to protect their business in a
country where public health regulations lag behind much of the rest of the
world and where over 37 percent of Indonesian boys between the ages of 15 and
19 were active smokers, according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of
Health last year.
Nafsiah
said before the present government’s term ended the WHO treaty must be signed.
“Our
president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is internationally recognized as a leader in
public health sector,” she said. “But some people are regretting that he did
not want to leave a legacy to show that he is the president who eventually
signed the treaty to join the international community.”
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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy,Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) -(Text version)
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Editorial: Protect Indonesians From Big Tobacco
Tobacco Fight Not Running Out of Puff in Indonesia
Beijing to raise tobacco tax to cut smoking - New
Member states back new EU tobacco rules
"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy,Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) -(Text version)
“… The Shift in Human Nature
You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.
In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?
Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.
What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”
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