The Raperda Of KTR Is Finalized, The Chairperson Of The DKI DPRD Ensures That Smoking And Sales Are Still Allowed In Entertainment Places

Illustration of the Jakarta City Hall (doc of the DKI Provincial Government)

JAKARTA - The Special Committee (Pansus) for the Draft Regional Regulation of Non-Smoking Areas (Raperda KTR) of the DKI Jakarta DPRD has finalized the discussion of the Raperda KTR. After that, the draft Raperda was brought to the Regional Regulation Formation Agency (Bapemperda) of the DKI Jakarta DPRD to be finalized before ratification.

In the draft, the Special Committee decided to maintain the article prohibiting the sale of cigarettes within a radius of 200 meters from the education unit. b In addition, the completed Raperda KTR also emphasized that there is no longer a smoking room in a closed room.

Even so, the chairman of the DKI Jakarta DPRD, Khoirudin, emphasized that smoking and cigarette trading activities are still allowed in entertainment venues.

"For certain places in entertainment venues, cafes, it is allowed. Do not let smoking of smokers can interfere with the health of others. If you trade, it's still allowed. Trade is allowed. Yes, it's still allowed at entertainment venues like that," Khoirudin told reporters, Thursday, November 6.

Khoirudin said that the application of an area without cigarettes was not intended to prohibit smoking as a whole, but to limit it from being carried out in vulnerable environments, especially education and health.

"Because these are educational institutions, prospective future leaders who must be sterile. Second, for health institutions and others," said Khoirudin.

The plan of the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government and the DKI DPRD to complete the Draft Regional Regulation (Raperda) on Non-Smoking Areas (KTR) has again drawn the spotlight.

A number of articles in the draft regulation are considered to have the potential to suppress the economic sector of the small people, especially traditional market traders and micro business actors.

Head of the Center for Macroeconomics and Finance of the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF), M. Rizal Taufikurahman, assessed that this provision does not take into account the economic conditions of the lower class. The widespread prohibition has the potential to suppress small traders and break the informal economic chain that has been supporting the Jakarta economy.

"Don't forget that small traders are Jakarta's economic cushion. If the sales ban is implemented, the negative domino effect includes the decline in turnover, sluggish purchasing power, and increased hidden unemployment. This condition can suppress social stability and widen the economic gap at the lower level," Rizal told reporters, Wednesday, November 5.

According to Rizal, policymakers need to be careful because the KTR Raperda also has the potential to erode regional income. The Special Committee itself previously acknowledged that the application of this rule could reduce regional revenue by 50 percent from the tobacco sector.

"So, it is not directly cutting the source of revenue without a ready replacement. Therefore, the Ranperda KTR should prioritize a balance between public health and the people's economic sustainability," he said.

Rizal added that this policy should be designed proportionally and adaptively, focusing on education and regulating cigarette-free public areas without closing the legal space for micro-enterprises.

"Those who focus on education and public areas are free of smoking, still provide legal space for micro-enterprises so that this policy is inclusive and does not cause new economic exclusion," said Rizal.