Monday, November 1, 2010

No Smoking In Public Buildings


Smoking cigarettes in public places is one of the worst enemy of the government of Jakarta, beside traffic jams and floods.

In 2005, they issued a regulation that forbid smoking inside certain public places like Religions places,  Schools, Hospitals, etc. Other public places like Shopping Malls are required special places for smoking. Although said regulation threatened violators with Fine, however due to weak law enforcement, we often see people smoking inside the mall.

Due to this fact, this year the government issued a tougher regulation (click) that totally forbid smoking inside public buildings, which sanctioned not only with usual form of punishment like Paying Fine, but also with public sanction i.e. announcement of their names in the mass media

Several groups of people i.e. Indonesian Tobacco Farmers Association, Kretek Cigarette Community, etc. alleged that this new regulation shows that the Jakarta government have surrendered to pressures of foreign anti-tobacco activists Swiss Contact.

This allegation was denied by the Governor of Jakarta Fauzi Bowo who said that the new regulation was made to accommodate the aspirations of Jakarta residents, therefore free from foreign intervention.

Inspite of the tough regulation, Smoking Rooms still exists in Jakarta government offices a.o. Office of the Mayor of Central Jakarta (click).

I hope that this new regulation would be enforced consistently, otherwise it would be as useless just like the  previous one.








Image : Courtesy of No Tobacco.

22 comments:

ReBorn said...

in priorities, I think the government needs to adopt a policy that is more urgent. for example: policies issued to overcome traffic jams or flooding. but although I am a smoker, I support the policy regulations not to smoke in public places.

Ria Tumimomor said...

Sighed... Are this regulation for real? Because many times I saw people still smoking at public places such as hospital... The smoker is one of the patient who went to get lunch at the cafeteria... next to him there is this big sign: DO NOT SMOKE... :D

Ferdinand said...

aku baru dnger berita ini tadi pagi... katanya yg ng'rokok ditempat umum mau dirazia ya hhe... untung aku udah berhenti ng'rokok jadi gak ikutan pusing deh hhe....

selama itu bener aku sih dukung2 aja....

:P

colson said...

The US, Europe and now Asia?

Smoking is rapidly becoming a forbidden addiction worldwide. I wonder when -like drugs- tobacco related crime will bear 'a war on cigarettes'...

julicavero said...

yes..we hope that, otherwise there is no useful about this regulation

Unknown said...

In my local shop a man was smoking whilst being served and I took huge offence to that and just told in my best English to get out.
He looked so embarrassed and apologised to me. This made it even worse as I dont need an apology. The staff needed an apology.
He left the shop.
Dunkin Doughnuts in Ambassador Mall is a smoking area and I forgot what drinking a cup of tea and smoking was like until that moment....

berpikir positif said...

I am not a smoker now, I Support no smoking in public buildings thanks for your congrats

DEE said...

yeah..no smoking pleade:D

ladyinpurple said...

Anti-smoking is strictly implemented in my city-Davao..Davao is the most strict city when it comes to smoking ordinance

ChYmEc!nDy** said...

Smoking is not a good habit. I honestly dont like people who smoke.

ASPeMusik said...

positive intention
tapi untuk perokok berat jadi kurang baik.karena memenggal kebebadan merokok...mslh polusi kayknya ga ngaruh deh..klo mau ngurangi polusi jkt.pejabat kasih contoh pp kantor bersepeda kayaknya lebih simpati..hehe.slm

Unknown said...

@Reborn,
Glad to see you back.
I agree that what is very urgent right now is traffic jam and flood.
Re: smoking
The government should consistently and seriously enforce the 2005 regulation that limits smoking area first before issuing new one.

@The Dream Catcher,
It seems that the government just like to make regulations but cannot be consistent in enforcing them.

@Ferdinand,
Peraturan yang bagus harus didukung rakyat dan pemerintah termasuk para penegak hukum.

@Colson,
I don't think so, as long as only tobacco. It would be different if it is mixed with illegal stuffs.

@Julicavero,
Let us hope so.

@Luke,
Yes you are right, in spite of the strict limitations imposed by the 2005 regulation, but in practice it is not difficult to find people smoking in non smoking area.
I doubt that implementation of the 2010 regulation would be better.

@Berpikir Positif,
You are welcome my friend.

@Dee,
Yeah .... smoking is polluting the air that we breathe.

@Lady in Purple,
Jakarta should follow the path taken by Davao.

@Ms. Chyme,
Smoking is disturbing non smokers.

@ASPeMusik,
Selama pemerintah tidak konsisten dalam menegakkan peraturan maka sulit mengharapkan daerah bebas polusi. Apalagi kalau dilihat bahwa rokok memberikan pemasukan besar bagi negara.
Yang penting adalah bagaimana perokok tidak menggangu kegiatan non perokok.

TUKANG CoLoNG said...

ini baru namanya aturan yg sweeeet

Unknown said...

TUKANG CoLoNG,
Apalagi kalau dilaksanakan secara konsisten.

boyin said...

really happy to hear that,even I am the smoker, but I welcome with this new regulation. At least we show our respect to the others.

Unknown said...

Boyin,
Thank you for your support.

ReBorn said...

@harry

wah, u r very nice. thank you, glad to see u too.

Unknown said...

Reborn,
You are welcome my friend.

Indonesian Rhapsody said...

Whoaaa..it's a bad news for me, but there is no problem as long as there are provided a special room for smoker.

Unknown said...

Indonesian Rhapsody,
The new 2010 regulation canceled the 2005 regulation, so special smoking rooms in malls are not allowed anymore.

Kekasih said...

Good initiative.

Unknown said...

Kekasih,
Yes, it is a good initiative.