Following opposition by public health professionals, the Bali administration has finally declared its official stance on the plan to hold Inter-tabac Asia 2014, an international trade fair for tobacco products and smoking accessories, in Bali.
The administration has rejected the fair that was to be held on Feb. 27-28 in Nusa Dua, saying it ran counter to the provincial smoke-free bylaw.
"We have sent a letter to the organizing committee, telling them not to hold the event in Bali because we have a bylaw on smoke-free zones," Deputy Governor Ketut Sudikerta told journalists on Tuesday.
Enacted in 2011, the smoke-free bylaw clears the way to banning smoking across broad swathes of the island. The bylaw states that hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, places of worship, healthcare facilities, schools, playgrounds, traditional and modern markets, transportation terminals, airports, government offices and public transportation are to be smoke-free areas.
The advertising and sales of tobacco products have also been banned in these places, except where regulated by a specific governor regulation. Anyone who smokes or provides cigarettes in these area could face three months' imprisonment or a fine of Rp 50,000 (US$4.10). Violation of the bylaw is still rampant.
Bali has already rejected the World Tobacco Asia (WTA) conference, slated to be held in Nusa Dua in September this year, which was finally diverted to Jakarta.
Sudikerta said that holding Inter-tabac Asia on the island would complicate the ongoing attempts to enforce the bylaw.
"We suggested the organizing committee hold the event in East Java or Central Java, where there are many tobacco plantations," Sudikerta said.
Bali Tobacco Control Initiative coordinator, Made Kerta Duana, conveyed his appreciation of the provincial administration's stance. "It shows the government's commitment to enact our smoke-free bylaw," Kerta Duana said.
However, Kerta Duana stressed that the tobacco trade fair should not be held anywhere in Indonesia. "It will only shame Indonesia as a country," he said.
Rejection of the plan was not just local. A petition signed by health professionals from Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Timor Leste, the US and Vietnam stated: "We respectfully request the government of the Republic of Indonesia and the provincial government of Bali to prohibit Inter-tabac Asia from being held in Bali, and to prohibit the German-based Inter-tabac from promoting tobacco products in Indonesia."
Professor of public health at Udayana University, Nyoman Wirawan, said, "We really deplore that Indonesia is the only country that welcomes the tobacco fair."
A local health survey conducted by Bali Health Agency showed that the prevalence of young smokers in Bali had reached 31 percent in 2010, while in 2007 it was 24.9 percent. Public polling on the smoke-free zone bylaw showed that 93.1 percent of respondents supported the bylaw and 92.7 percent supported the designation of places of worship as no-smoking zones.
Meanwhile, a survey conducted by the Udayana University's public health department in 2011 involving 194 respondents found that 34 percent of smokers were aged between 13 and 22 years old. Around 60 percent of these were junior high school students. Around 68 teenagers said their habits derived from one of their family members.
