Indonesia unlikely to ratify the FCTC any time soon

Indonesia seems unlikely any time soon to ratify the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

According to a Tempo story, Widyastuti Soerojo, the chairperson of the Tobacco Control Special Agency and the Association of Indonesian Health Experts (IAKMI), has questioned President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo’s commitment to tobacco control.

“I can say that the tobacco control efforts will be harder in Jokowi’s tenure,” Widyastuti said during a workshop on tobacco control in Jakarta on Tuesday. Joko Widodo has been president of Indonesia since October last year.

Widyastuti expressed the view that the government had not been supportive of the public’s health but had rather focused on cigarette-industry profits.

Meanwhile, Hakim Sorimuda Pohan, an executive of the National Commission for Tobacco Control, said that Jokowi had shown his support for the cigarette industry since the latter took office.

A week after being named by Jokowi as Industry Minister, Saleh Husin had visited Djarum, one of the largest cigarette producers in the country, to convince the company that the government would not ratify the FCTC.

The reason was that the FCTC would threaten the cigarette industry and tobacco farmers, Hakim added.