Tobacco Articles At RPP Health Real Forms Of National IHT Denormalization

Photo: Doc. Antara

JAKARTA - The government is currently drafting a draft or Draft Government Regulation of the derivative Law (UU) No. 17/2023 on Health (RPP Kesehatan). The plan, the RPP will contain a number of production control, sales, and sponsorship of tobacco products. Sadly, the RPP will actually threaten the sustainability of the Tobacco Products Industry (IHT).

Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Cigarette Manufacturers (GAPPRI) Henry Najoan said the implementation of tobacco articles at RPP Health would eliminate more than 6 million people from laborers, tobacco farmers, clove farmers, traders/peretels, and creative industry players. He also asked the Government to be careful with the PP draft and pay attention to the many sectors involved in it.

"We ask not to rush to decide on the regulation by considering the social impacts that will arise from the regulation. If the tobacco articles in the RPP are enforced, the threat to the sustainability of the IHT is very real and significant," said Henry, Friday, December 8.

GAPPRI, which is a place for confederation for IHT, is a typical product of kretek, which consists of manufacturers from various groups, assessing that it is better to issue regulations for tobacco products issued from the RPP Health and regulated in their own regulations.

For GAPPRI, the current regulation feels that it is already heavy. Apart from the increase in excise rates, it has had an impact, especially since production in class I has also closed many factories from 4,669 business units in 2007 to 1,100 in 2022.

In line with Henry, Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Advertising Council Janoe Arijanto explained that the creative and broadcasting industries and their workforce are very threatened with continuity if the ban on total advertising of tobacco products is enforced. The plan to ban total advertisements on tobacco articles at the RPP Health will directly reduce the income of the creative, entertainment, and advertising industries. This will also have an impact on the sustainability of its business and the fate of the workforce who depend on its work in the sector's eyes.

"The receipts obtained by the creative industry will decrease by 9-10 percent which will have a major impact on employment and creative industry income," he said.

Janoe said, launching TV Audience Measurement Nielsen data, tobacco product advertisements are worth more than IDR 9 trillion while tobacco's contribution to digital media reaches around 20 percent of the total digital media revenue in Indonesia, which is around hundreds of billions per year. Moreover, based on data from the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) in 2021, the creative industry has more than 725 thousand workers and in general, multi-sectors in the creative industry also employ 19.1 million workers.

He emphasized that so far the national creative industry has complied with the rules for advertising tobacco products that have been set. The industry also supports the government's efforts to reduce the prevalence of child smokers. So far, explained Janoe, the national creative industry has always complied with applicable regulations and cigarette advertisements have been regulated through a number of tobacco product regulations, including PP 109/2012 and the provisions that have been regulated in detail in the Indonesian Tourism Ethics (EPI).

"In this case, the narrowing of the hours of showing cigarette advertisements on TV in the Health RPP is considered discriminatory for the national creative industry which has complied with all regulations for advertising tobacco products," he said.

Henry also said that many affected parties were not invited to formulate the policy. Even though they will bear the burden of the policy.

Henry also conveyed that his party had sent a letter to the President and asked the government to involve stakeholders. GAPPRI also requested that the discussion be carried out in a transparent and accountable manner by considering local wisdom, economic magnitude, state revenue, and labor absorption from the national tobacco industry and other related industries.

This was also revealed by Janoe. He explained that the national creative industry was never involved in the process of preparing and participating in the RPP Health public. The Advertising Association has never been informed and involved in the policy preparation process which will have an impact on business continuity.

"In addition, the ministry of supervisory sector under the protection sector is also not invited to participate in consulting the poor designs that will be carried out to the public and related parties," said Janoe.

Janoe regretted this because the understanding of the creative industry was very limited regarding the plan to implement the regulation. This policy should be discussed with parties who will intersect with regulations, considering that the RPP Kesehatan covers many large business fields and intersects with tobacco products.

According to him, the involvement of industry players from the government in discussing this regulation has never been realized.

His party is open in discussing the policy preparation process so that the changes do not harm creative industry players and are right on target in supporting the government's efforts.

"We also hope to be involved in the policy preparation process which will have an impact on the creative industry," concluded Janoe.