When the tobacco industry has a free hand: the Indonesian case

Indonesia is one of the few countries that has not ratified the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which now has 181 Parties. Today, by the scale of the human, health, economic and ecological damage caused by the tobacco industry in this country, by the importance of the influence of this industry in the political and cultural landscape, and by the lack of effective public policies against the tobacco epidemic[1], Indonesia is considered a playground for tobacco companies[2]. The study of this country offers an edifying example of the practices operated by the tobacco industry, when it, thanks to flexible and permissive legislation, finds itself with its hands free.

Indonesia, a playground for tobacco companies

The tobacco industry occupies a special place within the Indonesian economy. With 342 billion cigarettes produced each year in the country, Indonesia ranks second in the world among tobacco producers behind China, and alone concentrates 58.3% of the total production of the ten member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) [3]. A large majority of national production is intended for local consumption. And for good reason: with its 65 million regular smokers, its 684 million cigarettes consumed each day by adults alone, Indonesia is proving to be an extremely lucrative market for the tobacco industry. This is what explains the dynamism of the figures for this sector. In 2010, Indonesia produced 135 million tons of tobacco leaves in 2016, an increase of more than 45% in six years[4]. While public policies in different countries around the world show a trend towards combating smoking through the WHO treaty, Indonesia is going against the grain on this issue: the country has the highest rate of smokers in the world. ? The industry benefits from the trivialization and normalization of tobacco: 67% of Indonesian men aged 25 to 64 smoke[5]. Indonesia is thus the tenth most profitable country in the world for the tobacco industry, partly explaining why more than a thousand cigarette manufacturing sites are located there.[6]. However, the tobacco market in Indonesia is largely dominated by three main players: Philip Morris International (PMI), owner since 2005 of the Indonesian brand Sampoerna, as well as Gudang Garam and Djarum, historical manufacturers of clove cigarettes, the kretek. These three players alone account for more than 50% of the national production of cigarettes and tobacco products.[7]Tobacco sales taxes, while particularly low, brought in $10.7 billion to the state in 2018.[8], representing one of its main sources of income, in the same way as gas or oil[9]. Tobacco cultivation is also viewed favorably by the Indonesian public authorities: it brings in more foreign currency and tax revenue than any other crop.

Permissive legislation

As a corollary to this lack of ratification of the WHO treaty which structures public policies to combat tobacco in all countries of the world, Indonesia stands out for its particularly insufficient regulations with regard to tobacco.[10]. Thus, on the question of advertising for example, Indonesia is lagging considerably behind. Some progress has been made (ban on free distribution operations, restriction of advertising on television and radio between 9:30 p.m. and five a.m., ban on showing cigarettes, their shape, their brand, and the action of to smoke). However, the law authorizes the tobacco industry to advertise in the press, in the street (except in main roads, designated non-smoking areas, and provided that the display does not exceed 72 m² of surface[11]), in points of sale, on the internet, as well as to sponsor certain sporting or cultural events. However, it has been demonstrated since the 1970s that partial bans on tobacco advertising have had too little effect, as we observe transfers of advertising insertions to other less regulated media.

The tobacco companies' strategy: women and children first

If the tobacco industry claims that its advertisements are intended for an adult audience, the fact remains that they are not without effects on the consumption of younger people. This is precisely what the US Surgeon General Review pointed out in its study published in 2012, accusing advertisers of the risk of increasing youth smoking.[12]. Another study on a panel of adolescents showed in 2007 that, in the month preceding the survey, 99.7% of them had seen an advertisement for tobacco on television, 87% on a billboard in the street , 76% in the written press, and 81% had attended at least once in their lives an event sponsored by a tobacco brand[13]. While there is theoretically a ban on the sale of tobacco to minors, this is not at all respected, and it is extremely easy for a teenager to obtain cigarettes, which can also be purchased individually. The price of tobacco is particularly low, including for minors, and this trend has even increased over the last two decades. In 2000, the price of one hundred packets of cigarettes was equivalent to 8.6% of annual GDP per capita, compared to only 3.7% in 2017.[14]. The extremely tight network of points of sale also allows access to tobacco products anywhere.[15]. In 2018, the US National Library of Medicine published a field survey in Bali on underage smoking[16] : out of 379 schools, 367 had at least one tobacco shop within 250 meters; out of 11,000 points of sale studied, only eleven did not advertise cigarettes; finally, more than one in two sellers admitted to selling to minors. Beyond this observation, it is the tobacco industry itself that is to blame. To target young people, the latter does not hesitate to sponsor cultural events or to conduct advertising campaigns on social networks. Thus, since 2002, Philip Morris International (Sampoerna) has sponsored the SoudAdrenaline music festival[17]. In doing so, the cigarette manufacturer is associating itself with a festive universe of creativity and self-discovery, suggesting that smoking is an experience like any other linked to youth and freedom. While 67% of men over 15 smoke, 4.5% of women in the same age group are smokers.[18]. This prevalence among men is partly explained by the fact that the tobacco industry has helped to create a myth associating virility and tobacco. Smoking is an act that is an integral part of constructing their masculinity. Smoking can even appear as an initiation rite of leaving childhood, where the first cigarette will be smoked during circumcision, occurring between the ages of eleven and twelve.[19]At the same time, social norms keep smoking rates comparatively low among women.[20]. However, the tobacco industry is striving to reverse this state of affairs in order to make tobacco consumption acceptable and valued among them.[21]. This strategy will, for example, involve the production of packets with a shape reminiscent of lipstick and thinner cigarettes, suggesting the positive influence of cigarettes on weight or their lesser danger to health.[22]. Flavoured cigarettes (especially menthol), which are more harmful and more addictive, are put on sale to facilitate the initiation of smoking. In fact, by taking up the clichés of femininity and feminism (emancipation, thinness, glamour), the tobacco industry recycles marketing recipes developed by Edouard Barnays a hundred years earlier in the United States. This aggressive marketing strategy is demonstrated by the intensification of the advertising effort undertaken by the tobacco industry: in 2000, it devoted 202 million euros to advertising in Indonesia (billboards, television, written press and points of sale), compared to 474 in 2016[23]. The impact on consumption is direct. The tobacco industry recruits 16.4 million new consumers each year, aged between 10 and 19. In total, 20% of Indonesian men aged 13 to 15 are smokers, and this rate reaches 41% among boys. Among women, between 2012 and 2017, the number of regular female smokers increased fivefold. Similarly, the number of smokers aged 10 to 14 has doubled in the last twenty years, while it has tripled among those aged 5 to 9. The prevalence of smoking among young people is such that it poses a threat to Indonesia's productivity, and exposes the country to an unprecedented health risk. The tobacco epidemic is not only a problem for smokers, since 97% of Indonesian minors are exposed to second-hand smoke.[24].

The interference of tobacco companies in Indonesian public life

The Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) has established an indicator to measure and objectify the degree of interference of the tobacco industry in the public life of countries. The system takes into account twenty different criteria, all rated from 1 to 5, giving a score out of 100, where the higher the score, the more the country suffers from tobacco industry interference. This interference index was taken up within the framework of the FCTC for the year 2019. With 75 points, Indonesia has the fifth highest index in the world, behind Japan, Jordan, Bangladesh and Lebanon.[25]. Indeed, if Indonesia has not ratified the FCTC, and if the country is so far behind in the fight against tobacco, it is largely linked to the fact that cigarette companies undertake a constant effort to interfere in Indonesian politics. This is a vicious circle because the very fact of not having ratified the treaty increases the difficulty for public officials to protect public policies from this interference.[26]. Thus, for thirteen years, the tobacco industry in Indonesia has initiated thirteen legal proceedings[27] in the country against tobacco control measures, proposed by the health law in October 2006[28]. Attempts to block have concerned Article 113, affirming the addictive nature of tobacco, Article 114, making it mandatory to display health messages on packets, and Article 115, establishing smoking bans in certain places (playgrounds, public transport, health and school establishments). To interfere in legislative circles and slow down anti-smoking policies, cigarette companies finance lobbies at the global and national levels. This is particularly the case of the International Tobacco Growers Association, one of whose objectives is to fight against the progress of the FCTC, in particular Articles 9, 10, 17 and 18 of its Convention.[29]. Concretely, the tobacco industry, through this third party instrumentalized by the manufacturers, is opposed in particular to the regulation of the composition of tobacco products, to the regulation of information on tobacco products to be communicated, to support for the reconversion of land into an economically viable crop, as well as to the protection of the environment and human health. It is an entire organization of structures affiliated directly or indirectly to tobacco manufacturers, covering all activities related to smoking, which works to block protective health measures. Thus, in Indonesia, cigarette companies support three farmers' lobbies, 4 manufacturers' lobbies, 3 retailers' lobbies, 6 commercial group lobbies and one consumer lobby.[30].

An industry in search of respectability

In Indonesia, as in many other countries, the tobacco industry is seen by the public authorities as an interlocutor like any other, legitimate to speak out and participate in the development of the country.[31]. To develop public respectability, the tobacco industry even goes so far as to participate in and finance corporate social responsibility activities. By presenting themselves as responsible actors and committed to noble causes, cigarette companies attract the goodwill of the highest levels of power. In 2015[32], the Indonesian Minister of Youth and Sports participated in the opening of a national badminton competition, organized by one of the main cigarette manufacturers, the National Djarum Circuit. On this occasion, the minister congratulated the brand for its involvement in “restoring the glory of Indonesian badminton”. In the same way, the Minister of the Environment, the same year, participated and spoke during the “trees for life” project.[33] » by Djarum, while the tobacco industry is responsible for 5% of global deforestation. For its part, Philip Morris International had spent six million euros on CSR activities[34]These relations of interference between the tobacco industry and public authorities can take on the air of collusion, when in 2015, the former Minister of Finance and International Economic Cooperation was appointed as an independent commissioner for British American Tobacco (BAT), a global tobacco industry behemoth.©Tobacco Free Generation

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Image sources:https://seatca.org/nearly-a-year-after-outdoor-tobacco-ad-ban-went-into-effect-cigarette-billboards-go-down-in-mampang/https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/10/poorer-countries-fail-smoking-big-tobacco-threats-says-who#img-1https://twitter.com/davidlipson/status/1032162992102694912?lang=dahttps://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/8/1/85[1] SEATCA Report, “The Tobacco Control Atlas. Asean Region. Fourth Edition.” Tan Yen Lian and Ulysses Dorotheo. 04/02/2019. https://seatca.org/dmdocuments/Tobacco%20Control%20Atlas%20ASEAN%20Region%204th%20Ed%20Feb%202019.pdf[2] The Conversation. “Disneyland for Big Tobacco': how Indonesia's lax smoking laws are helping next generation to get hooked”, 01/06/2018.[3] Ibid[4] Tobacco Free Center. Indonesia overview. https://web.archive.org/web/20100611004049/http://tobaccofreecenter.org/resources_country/indonesia[5] Ibid[6] Indonesia Investments. Tobacco & Cigarette Industry Indonesia. 05/31/2016https://www.indonesia-investments.com/business/industries-sectors/tobacco/item6873[7] Tobacco Free Kids. “Tobacco Economics in Indonesia”. June 2008. https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/assets/global/pdfs/en/Indonesia_tobacco_taxes_report_en.pdf[8] Ibid[9] Tobacco Control. “Tobacco advertising in Indonesia: the defining characteristics for success”. 1999. https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/tobaccocontrol/8/1/85.full.pdf[10] Tobacco Control Laws: Indonesia.https://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/legislation/country/indonesia/summary[11] Global Legal Monitor. “Indonesia: New Tobacco Control Law”. 01/16/2013http://www.loc.gov/law/foreign-news/article/indonesia-new-tobacco-control-law/[12] Prabandar Yayi Suryo, Dewi Arika, Global Health Action, “How do Indonesian youth perceive cigarette advertising? A cross-sectional study among Indonesian high school students. 08/26/2016.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5005365/#CIT0011[13] Ibid[14] WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, 2019. Indonesia. https://www.who.int/tobacco/surveillance/policy/country_profile/idn.pdf[15] World Bank Group. “The economics of tobacco farming in Indonesia. Health, population, and nutritional global practices”. 2017. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/161981507529328872/pdf/120307-REVISED-PUBLICWBGIndoEconomicsTobaccoFarming.pdf[16] Tobacco Induced Diseases. “Cigarette retailer density around schools and neighborhoods in Bali, Indonesia: A GIS mapping”. 07/2019.http://www.tobaccoinduceddiseases.org/pdf-110004-40846?filename=Cigarette%20retailer.pdf[17] The Conversation, “ Tobacco company in Indonesia skirts regulation, uses music concerts and social media for marketing ". 07/31/2018. https://theconversation.com/tobacco-company-in-indonesia-skirts-regulation-uses-music-concerts-and-social-media-for-marketing-93206[18] Ibid[19] Nawi, Weinehall, Öhman, Health Education Research, “If I don't smoke, I'm not a real man'—Indonesian teenage boys' views about smoking”. 09/20/2006. https://academic.oup.com/her/article/22/6/794/640787[20] Ibid[21] SEATCA, “Indonesia: Big tobacco seeks to attract women: Report”. 03/11/2019. https://seatca.org/?p=13660[22] SEATCA, “Tobacco Industry targets women”. 03/14/2019. https://seatca.org/?p=13684[23] Ibid[24] Ibid[25] https://cnct.fr/actualites/indice-de-interference-de-lindustrie-du-tabac-2019/[26] Ansyori, Thabrany, Yuliyanti, PMAC, “The Political Battles of Tobacco Control and NCDs in Indonesia”, 2019.https://pmac2019.com/uploads/poster/A204-AHMADANSYORI-2e0a.pdf[27] Ibid[28] Text of the law of the Indonesian Republic relating to health. 2009. Full document. http://extwprlegs1.fao.org/docs/pdf/ins160173.pdf[29] Ibid[30] Ibid[31] Ibid[32] http://www.ijph.in/article.asp?issn=0019-557X;year=2017;volume=61;issue=5;spage=35;epage=39;aulast=Assunta#ref1[33] “Trees for life”. To view the site, click on the link.[34] Ibid | ©National Committee Against Smoking |