Regulations On The Prohibition Of Retailed Cigarette Sales: Late And Difficult To Implement

A number of children walked beside the mural of information on smoke-free areas in densely populated settlements in Kayu Manis, Matraman, Jakarta. (ANTARA/Rifqi Raihan Firdaus/aww/aa)

JAKARTA The government officially prohibits the sale of tobacco products in units per stick or retail. This is stated in Government Regulation (PP) Number 28 of 2024, a derivative of Law Number 17 of 2023 concerning Health or the Health Law. Although it aims well, the ban on the sale of retail cigarettes is considered too late.

Since the issuance of Government Regulation Number 28 of 2024, several articles have drawn strong reactions from the public. One of them is the one who regulates the prohibition of selling cigarettes in retail units per stick as stated in Article 434.

The same article also prohibits selling tobacco products and electronic cigarettes within a radius of 200 meters from educational units and children's playgrounds.

grocery traders are predicted to be the most affected party, but this prohibition is actually too late to implement.

So far, retail cigarette sales are among the best-selling in grocery traders. That's why when President Jokowi signed this PP, grocery traders were among the most objected.

This was conveyed by the General Chairperson of the Indonesian People's Market Association (Apartion) Suhendro, who stated that the issuance of the Health PP would threaten the survival of nine million traders in the people's market spread throughout Indonesia.

The rule that is in the spotlight of the Apparatus is the prohibition of selling cigarettes within a radius of 200 meters from educational units and playgrounds as well as the prohibition of selling cigarettes in retail. According to Suhendro, this rule is random to apply.

"We strongly reject these two restrictions because of several factors. One of them is because many markets are close to schools, educational institutions or children's play facilities. This regulation can also reduce the turnover of market traders, which many come from the sale of tobacco products. This will create new problems for us as business actors," he said.

Similarly, a public policy observer from Trisakti University Trubus Rahadiansyah also said that the prohibition of selling retail cigarettes only made small traders victims.

In addition, Trubus also questioned how the government controlled the policy of prohibiting selling retail cigarettes, because it had been going on for a long time.

"In terms of implementation, it is less effective because who wants to oversee this prohibition policy, so far people have been used to it, and traders also get quite a lot of benefits from the sale," Trubus told VOI.

The discourse to ban the sale of retail cigarettes or bricks has actually been heard since 2022. Lowering the prevalence of child and adolescent smokers is the reason behind this plan.

The number of stalls at the age of 10-18 years continues to increase from year to year. In 2019, the number of smokers in this age range reached 10.70 percent and is estimated to reach 16 percent in 2030.

When this discourse surfaced two years ago, Project Lead Tobacco Control from the Center for Indonesia's Strategic Development Initiatives (CISDI) study institute, Iman Zein, said this policy was too late.

Iman explained that this rule should have been implemented long before the prevalence of child and adolescent smokers in Indonesia was not too far from the 2020-2024 National Medium-Term Development Plan (RP JMN) target, which was 8.7 percent.

If the regulation on the prohibition of selling retail cigarettes is enforced more quickly, this figure may still be pursued.

"The data (prevalence of young smokers) in 2022 has increased before it seems, before this regulation is implemented. So if it's too late, it's too late," said Iman Zein on December 28, 2022.

Citing the Ministry of Health's website, children and adolescents are among the groups with the most significant increase in the number of smokers. Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) data in 2019 showed the prevalence of smokers in school-age children aged 13-15 years rose from 18.3 percent (2016) to 19.2 percent (2019).

Meanwhile, data on the 2023 Indonesian health survey (SKI) also shows that the largest group of smokers is in the 15-19 year age range, which is 36.5 percent. In the next order, the 10-14 year age group was 18.4 percent.

Previously, the Ministry of Health also stated that cigarette sales continued to increase, along with the amount of cigarette consumption, child smokers, and deaths from cigarettes.

In 2021 cigarette sales increased 4.2 percent from 2020 or from 276.2 billion sticks to 296.2 billion sticks with 70.2 million adults known to smoke.

In addition, the use of electronic cigarettes also rose 10 times from 0.3 percent in 2011 to 3 percent in 2021.

The death rate due to 33 diseases related to smoking behavior reached 230,862 in 2015 and caused a loss of Rp596.61 trillion. Tobacco is also claimed to kill 290,000 people every year in Indonesia and be the biggest cause of death from non-communicable disease.