Indonesia steers for FCTC ratification

Indonesian Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi has said that her government will strive to ensure that Indonesia ratifies the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), according to a story in The Jakarta Post.

The minister said that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had agreed in principle to ratification but wanted firstly to see the government speaking with one voice on the subject. “So I think we will get there, but not yet,” she was quoted as telling the Post on Saturday.

Indonesia had been active in formulating the FCTC in 2002–2003, Nafsiah said. “So we know that Indonesians actually believe that the FCTC is a good tool for all countries within the WHO family to protect people from negative impacts of smoking,” she added.

Meanwhile, Indonesia has been told that a cigarette and tobacco advertising ban is essential in the fight to curb smoking addiction, according to another story in the Post.

“The tobacco industry is too strong, even if you implement any tobacco control regulation,” Rob Moodie, a professor of public health at the University of Melbourne, was quoted as saying on Saturday.

Moodie said that through advertisements, cigarette smoking became a part of normal life. “A constant barrage of advertising reminds people that it’s cool to smoke, you’re a better person if you smoke, you’re a more attractive person if you smoke, all of these things,” he said.