Gappri Asks The Government To Consider The Social Impact Before Deciding On The RPP Health

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Association of Indonesian Cigarette Manufacturers (Gappri) asked the government to consider the social impact before deciding the Draft Health Government Regulation (RPP) into a Government Regulation to be implemented as a regulation.

Chairman of the Gappri Association Henry Najoan said that the application of tobacco articles at the Health RPP has the potential to eliminate the livelihoods of more than 6 million people, starting from workers, tobacco farmers, clove farmers, traders/peretels, and creative industry players.

"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," Henry said as quoted by ANTARA, Sunday, December 10.

The government is currently drafting a draft or Draft Government Regulation in the derivative of Law (UU) No. 17/2023 on Health (RPP Kesehatan).

The plan is that the RPP will contain a number of production control, sales, and sponsorship of tobacco products which are considered to threaten the sustainability of the Tobacco Products Industry (IHT).

According to him, the rules for tobacco products should be issued from the Health RPP and regulated in their own regulations.

For Gappri, he continued, the current regulation is considered to be tough because the increase in excise rates has 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.

Henry said that many affected parties were not invited to formulate the policy even though they would bear the burden of the policy.

Therefore, his party has sent a letter to the President and asked the government to involve stakeholders.

Gappri also requested that discussions 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.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Advertising Council Janoe Arijanto explained that the creative and broadcasting industry and its workers are very threatened with sustainability if the ban on total advertising of tobacco products is enforced.

The plan to ban total advertising on tobacco articles at RPP Kesehatan will directly reduce the income of the creative, entertainment, and advertising industry, he added, it will also have an impact on the sustainability of its business and the fate of the workforce who depend on the work of the sector.

"The receipts obtained by the creative industry will decrease by 9-10 percent which will have a major impact on employment and income of the creative industry," 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 about 20 percent of the total digital media revenue in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Janoe continued, data from the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) in 2021 states that the creative industry has more than 725 thousand workers and in general, multi-sectors in the creative industry also employ 19.1 million workers.

"This policy should be discussed with parties who will intersect with regulations, considering that the Health RPP covers many business fields and intersects with tobacco products," he said.