Ini saya ambil dari situs ABC, dilaporkan oleh koresponden mereka: Mark Corcorran. Ditayangkan tanggal 1 September 2009. Menyedihkan negara kita ini. Lebih menyedihkan lagi: komentar Menkes yang mengesankan tidak peduli terhadap kesehatan anak-anak Indonesia yang teracuni tembakau. Dan toh dia dianggap sebagai menteri terbaik oleh sementara orang. KM
Indonesia - 80 million a day Limited advertising restrictions can result in children being directly targeted. Theyre starting young and dying young. 400 thousand Indonesians are dying each year from smoking related illnesses and business couldnt be better for tobacco companies in retreat from punitive taxes and tough health regulations in the developed world. 'From the tobacco companys perspective, Indonesia is a paradise.' David Stanford Indonesia Consumers Foundation Any hour of the day Indonesians are subjected to a sales pitch that hasnt been seen in Australia for decades. Cigarette commercials on television hard sell messages that smoking is cool while sporting events and pop concerts are draped with advertising slogans and seductive images. Even the Marlboro man who rode into the sunset in the west years ago is riding high in the saddle on enormous roadside billboards. Critics are scathing in their assessment of cigarette vendors like Philip Morris and others and accuse them of seizing on the absence of regulation and of directly exposing kids to a variety of advertising. The fact that today Philip Morris is continuing to target youth in Indonesia is one of the most egregious moral and social violations of corporate responsibility that I can imagine. Matthew Myers President - Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids Indonesia itself is accused by anti-smoking campaigners of being a rogue state in the company of North Korea and Zimbabwe for thumbing its nose at the facts and ignoring the World Health Organisations widely accepted convention on tobacco control. The countrys top council of Islamic scholars recently considered declaring a fatwa on smoking - but even they balked and failed to stop the surge of the tobacco companies. Cigarettes are like a weapon of mass destruction and cigarette advertising is an invasion to the young of Indonesia. Cholil Ridwan Religious leader Indonesia correspondent Geoff Thompson visits the cancer wards and tobacco fields of Indonesia for this disturbing investigation of smokings booming marketplace. Along the way he confronts the new boss of Philip Morris in Indonesia who declares he has no qualms about their marketing practices. On a personal level my conscience is fine. John Gledhill CEO Philip Morris, Indonesia _____________________________________ Transcript THOMPSON: Its a Saturday night in Jakarta and a battle of the bands known as Indiefest is about to kick off. From loud music, to bright lights, to sexy girls the whole thing is a honey pot for the young and restless all put on and paid for by Djarum the cigarette company owned by Indonesias richest man. Tonight the in-your-face hard sell is for L.A. Lights, Djarums premium brand for the young and trendy. The kids lap up the freebies, lighters and sometimes cigarettes as well. Its inescapable. In this town its virtually impossible to find a concert or a sporting event, which isnt sponsored by corporate tobacco. MATTHEW MYERS: [Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, USA] Philip Morris is one of the most brilliant marketers in the world. In a place like Indonesia what theyre doing is theyre making tobacco use a form of Western independence and growth. Whats even worse is theyre hitting the exact images that appeal to Indonesian youth. Its the reason were seeing such a dramatic rise in tobacco use among the Indonesian youth. DAVID STANFORD: [Indonesia Consumers Federation] I think it would be fair to characterise Indonesia as a rogue state when it comes to tobacco control THOMPSON: When it comes to regulating tobacco, Indonesia keeps some decidedly unhealthy and unsavoury friends. Like Zimbabwe, the only other place still allowing cigarette advertising on television. And North Korea, the only other Asian nation which has not signed up to Big Tobaccos arch enemy, the World Health Organisations Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. It curbs advertising and outlaws sales to youngsters. DAVID STANFORD: Indonesia is a very large market, the third largest market for tobacco products in the world. Second, its got the best regulation from a companys perspective. Its very, very loosely regulated. You can still sell tobacco to minors. Theres no sort of pack warnings or very small pack warnings on the back of packets. The tax is low and its got a very high growth rate of young smokers. Young people are getting into smoking much more quickly, much earlier than they used to do. From a tobacco companys perspective, Indonesia is a paradise. THOMPSON: The marketing strategies of cigarette companies play a major role in a massive national habit. Among men, almost 70% light up every day. Thats about 80 million smokers. MATTHEW MYERS: Today, the leadership of Philip Morris International and other tobacco companies, have absolutely no moral compass whatsoever. Theyre willing to make as much money, killing as many people, using whatever tactics the law will allow. Its one of the most egregious moral and social violations of corporate responsibility that I can imagine. THOMPSON: Like most, this man Ujang Widodo started smoking as a young teenager, blissfully ignorant of the danger to his health. UJANG WIDODO: I regret it very much now that Im sick. Why didnt I quit earlier? If Id known Id get this disease I would have quit a long time ago Regret is ever present. THOMPSON: Now hes just 45 and stricken with lung cancer. Hes undergoing chemotherapy, part of the enormous and growing caseload in hospitals across the archipelago. UJANG WIDODO: My life is uncertain. I know that my days are numbered. Im fighting for my life as hard as I can. THOMPSON: Like anywhere else in the world, the prognosis for lung cancer is not good. Up to 400,000 Indonesians die each year from smoking related illnesses 25,000 of them not even smokers. KHASIDOH: The doctor said that I have to take chemotherapy, then hell see what happens from there. Im optimistic that Ill get better, Im still young. THOMPSON: Khasidoh is 25 years old. She has a four-month-old baby and lung cancer. She is one of the many hapless victims of Indonesias choking haze of second-hand cigarette smoke. DR RITA KHAIRANI: This is the chest x-ray of the female patient, 25 years old. She came to us with breathlessness. She has coughs and fever and when we did the chest x-ray we found that in the right lung of this patient, a kind of mass. Then we did the CT scan of the thorax and we found a big mass in the right part of the lung. We can say the patient has lung cancer. THOMPSON: And why does this young woman of 25 years old, why does she have lung cancer? DR RITA KHAIRANI: I think because she was a passive smoker. Her father and her brother smoked in the home. KHASIDOH: Sometimes I feel angry upset. Sometimes I feel resentful. Well, we cant tell people what to do or what not to do. THOMPSON: Do you think that too many people smoke in Indonesia? Do you have an opinion about that? KHASIDOH: Many. Too many smokers in Indonesia. THOMPSON: Most lung cancer goes undiagnosed in Indonesia. Those few who do make it to hospital are usually past the point of no return. Khasidoh is relatively young and feeling positive. She wants to survive for the sake of her baby. Well monitor her battle with this insidious illness. A key reason for the smokings decline in countries like Australia is that these days the habit burns a real hole in your pocket, but here in Indonesia smokes remain very, very cheap. A packet like this will cost you about a dollar and home made brands in rural areas can sell for a quarter of that. Thats because in this country, taxes on cigarettes are among the lowest in the world. To find out why, we travelled into the archipelagos own Marlboro Country, out in East Java where kretek is king, Indonesias pungent clove cigarette. These are Indonesias killing fields, taking more lives every year than Acehs devastating tsunami. But even among many Indonesian tobacco farmers, theres either breathtaking ignorance or stubborn denial. We meet Abdul Hadi who says he doesnt believe a lifetimes habit has been detrimental to his health. ABDUL HADI: I smoke for 30 years. I stopped because I had breathing problems. THOMPSON: How did smoking for 30 years affect your health? ABDUL HADI: No effect all the same. Its fine. THOMPSON: Certainly Abduls wife Kholifah remains oblivious to the dangers of smoking. KHOLIFAH: Smoking doesnt really make people sick. He had difficulties breathing, so he stopped smoking. Cigarettes dont cause any illness. THOMPSON: And Kholifah is unperturbed that her teenage son is already a seasoned smoker. KHOLIIFAH: Its fine that he smokes. Indonesians think men who smoke look more masculine. ABDI MANAF: For me personally its good, because I can calm myself down with it. If I dont smoke, my mind gets all complicated. THOMPSON: In the worlds most populous Muslim nation youd think an edict from the countrys top council of Islamic scholars, the MUI, would count for something. Recently it considered declaring a fatwa on smoking as being haram or forbidden. One of the nations religious leaders, Cholil Ridwan believes smoking is evil. CHOLIL RIDWAN: Cigarettes are like a weapon of mass destruction - like a biological or chemical weapon that can wipe out a whole nation if they all smoke. PROTEST RALLY: Who ever gets in our way, who ever is against us, who ever they are, we must fight back! THOMPSON: At this farmers rally in central Java, tobacco triumphs over theology. A giant cigarette is inscribed with the words Cigarettes are not poison. The banner behind reads, revoke the MUI edict. Its amoral, barbaric. In the end the MUI decided that its only children and pregnant women who are forbidden to smoke. Even that was enough to provoke a life or death response from Javas tobacco farmers. PROTEST RALLY: Are you all ready to die? CROWD: Yeah! THOMPSON: Pressure from the tobacco industry has successfully kept the government from raising cigarette taxes. The hand rolling of kreteks is a frenzied display of human dexterity. These have twice the nicotine and three times the tar of regular cigarettes. Kreteks account for 90% of the hundreds of billions of cigarettes sold in Indonesia each year. And because they rely on manual labour, hand-rolled kreteks are taxed much less than their machine-made competitors. The margins are very profitable and very attractive to companies like Philip Morris and British American Tobacco. Their biggest sellers here are hand-rolled kreteks. Even small local producers like Syamsudi, know when theyre on to a good thing. SYAMSUDI: The increase is very, very good. Annually, the increase is between 20 and 25 per cent. THOMPSON: The Indonesian Government talks about future tax increases, but for now its happy to sit on its hands while more and more Indonesian smokers send themselves to an early grave. Its an argument lost on Khasidoh, the young passive smoke victim fighting lung cancer. When we revisited her in hospital, she was still awaiting her chemotherapy treatment. KHASIDOH: I feel a bit better now, but not good enough for chemotherapy yet THOMPSON: How do you feel about being away from your baby? KHASIDOH: I feel sad. I really miss him a lot. This is my first child. I want to be with him all the time. THOMPSON: When do you think you will see him again? KHASIDOH: After chemotherapy, the doctor said I can go home. THOMPSON: In the meantime, her little boy is being cared for by his grandmother, who sells cigarettes for a living. When Khasidoh gave birth four months ago, her husband left her because he could no longer afford the medical bills. KHASIDOHS MOTHER: I hope she gets better. I want her to heal. God will make her better again, just maybe. She is my daughter I want her to get better. THOMPSON: She tells us Khasidoh was brought up not only by her smoking father, but by a grandfather who was a heavy smoker. But like so many here, theres denial about the effects of tobacco. She doesnt believe her daughter is sick because she was surrounded by smokers. How did the grandfather die? KHASIDOHS MOTHER: He was sick. He coughed a lot. The doctor said that he had lung sickness, but he seemed healthy, he ate well just coughed a lot. THOMPSON: As thousands of Indonesians perish each week, tobacco companies prosper. After all here is a market place with next at no regulatory hurdles For Big Tobacco, under siege in the shrinking markets of the developed world, this is a golden opportunity for growth. The big players are swooping in for the kill. This year British American Tobacco, the makers of Lucky Strike, paid more than 600 million dollars for a majority stake in Bentoel, a smaller Indonesian tobacco company. Sampoerna is one of Indonesias big three tobacco giants. It was bought in 2005 by the worlds largest tobacco corporation, Philip Morris International, the creators of Marlboro and the Marlboro Man. Over the years, Sampoernas products could be credited with millions of premature deaths. The new chief of Philip Morris in Indonesia is old enough to remember when the Marlboro Man commercials screened on television and in cinemas in his home country. Hes a Brit who headed up the companys operations in Australia. He refused our request for an interview but we caught up with him at a shareholders forum. (TO GLEDHILL) Your products continue to be promoted and advertised at music events, sporting events, cultural events, look its pretty clear despite often denials that the sort of marketing is aimed at younger smokers. Now given that you are from Australia, you know the reality of what tobacco does to people, on a personal level how is your conscience? JOHN GLEDHILL: [Philip Morris, Indonesia] On a personal level my conscience if fine actually. I work for a company which I believe not only follows the law by the letter but also in the spirit as well. THOMPSON: Internal Philip Morris documents obtained by Foreign Correspondent confirm that the company is very focused on enticing young Indonesians to sample their deadly wares. Philip Morris documents refer to its A Mild brand of kretek cigarettes as the Aspirational brand for young adult smokers. The documents say the companys marketing goal is to generate trial and repurchase, that is, to get the young hooked on their product. Just to be clear, are you saying that your advertisements and promotions which are all about musical and sporting events are not trying to attract young smokers? JOHN GLEDHILL: Our advertising, which is not just in music by the way, is aimed at smokers and is aimed as persuading existing smokers to switch from competitors brands into our own brand. Thats the aim of our advertising. MATTHEW MYERS: Philip Morris has no credibility when it argues that all its trying to do is switching adult smokers from one brand to another. Its exactly the same lie they told in the United States and in other countries until their own documents exposed that that simply isnt the case. THOMPSON: Against the enormous momentum of the marketing push, there are meagre, haphazard attempts to reign in smoking. Some local governments have banned smoking in public places but enforcement is a halfhearted affair. Indonesian politicians dont even obey the laws they do put in place. Smoking is banned in the nations parliament building, but every day parliamentarians are lighting up inside. Indonesias Health Minister, Siti Fadilah Supari, is not afraid to making controversial statements. Shes best known for suggesting that the United States might be using Indonesias strain of the bird flu virus to develop new biological weapons. But she wasnt happy to be asked about smoking. You dont think smoking kills people? SITI FADILAH SUPARI: Dont ask about smoking. THOMPSON: Why not? Its killing hundreds of thousands of Indonesians every year. SITI FADILAH SUPARI: Im not ready for that. Im not ready for that. THOMPSON: Its difficult to know what to make of Health Minister Suparis explanation for not signing up to the World Health Organisations treaty which would make life much more difficult for Big Tobacco here. She says its too late for Indonesia to sign. Do you know what the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is? SITI FADILAH SUPARI: Yes I know. FCTC. Ask my staff THOMPSON: Why doesnt Indonesia sign it? Youre the Health Minister, why doesnt Indonesia sign it? SITI FADILAH SUPARI: [walks off] Its already too late. THOMPSON: It certainly is too late for Khasidoh. She never did see her baby boy again. She died just two days after we last spoke to her in hospital. But even as Khasidohs friends and family gather to mourn her passing, theyre still reluctant to accept that tobacco is a killer. But some are learning - if a little too late. As Atib Sajid lays his daughter to rest, he bemoans his addiction to a thirty-year-old habit. ATIB SAJID: I regret what happened, but what else can I do? What has happened has happened. What I can do is smoke less. KHASIDOHS MOTHER: I thought she would be healthy again. I really thought she was about to get better. I never thought of her dying so soon. THOMPSON: Khasidohs death is a grim reminder that over the next five years the families of at least two million Indonesians will lose loved ones before their time to diseases caused by smoking. The deadly dilemma for Indonesia is how much longer it puts tobacco industry profits before the health of its people. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
