Young people push FCTC agenda

The youth movement Indonesian Young Reformers (IYR) says it has collected 10,000 letters from children across the country calling on people to quit smoking, according to a story in the Jakarta Post.

The handwritten letters will be handed to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo during the National Children’s Day celebration, which will be centered in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, on July 23, and the president will read one of them out during the celebration.

“The main message of the letters is that Indonesian children want to have a healthy life without cigarettes,” said Syamsul Hadi, a member of the Mataram chapter of Indonesian Young Reformers, during an event to mark the arrival of a time capsule from World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) at Mataram on Monday.

IYR is a youth group with members in 17 cities across the country that aims to push Indonesia into ratifying the FCTC.

Since it was established in February, the IYR has carried out various activities, including those associated with the FCTC Time Capsule project.

“The FCTC time capsule symbolizes the commitment of 20 young reformers from 17 cities across Indonesia to carry out actions to support the accession to the treaty,” said Hadi