Bill Of Cigarette Impact Control to be Analyzed More Throughly

The majority of Legislation Body (Baleg) members of house asked review of law on control of impact of tobacco products on health be analyzed more thoroughly. This was set forth during meeting of the working committee led by vice chairman of Baleg of house Ida Fauziah.

Previously, this Bill on tobacco products had been enlisted in the Natonal Legislation program for Prioritized Bill 2010 and in 2011 re entered as Prioritized Law Proposal. At the Baleg meeting of Parliament, there were disagreements on the points whether this bill needed to be followed up or not. Baleg member of house Sri Rahayu stated that there was no objection at all about discussion of the Bill, but it should be assured that this Bill would not disadvantage tobacco growers. Accordingly welfare of the growers must be attended to because most region in central and west java and in some regions outside java remarkable producers of tobacco.

Meanwhile some Baleg members of house questioned title of the Bill. Sarifuddin Sudding suggested that it would be better if this Bill were changed, not focusing on the tobacco aspect but on health protection. It was proposed that if this Bill legislation were to proceed, the headline should be considered thoroughly first. Another Baleg member of house. Rindoko Wahono Wingit said that this Bill better regulated not the tobacco impact but more on the cigarette. He agreed that the public must have their health protected. For that matter, it would be necessary to find the right solution, no party should be disadvantage by the proposed law.

Meanwhile Baleg member of house Dhiana Anwar remarked that to see the title of the Bill, apparently the Bill focused more on the tobacco aspect. Supposedly emphasis of the Bill should not be on the tobacco aspect but on the utilization and the impact resulted from consumption of tobacco. She saw that many elementary school children today took to smoking, and cigarettes were easily available in small shops and counters. This was the problems to be overcome. The government must regulate cigarettes distribution, so they were not easily accessible by children. In conclusion it was proposed that title of this bill be changed to bill on cigarette consumption. The majority of Baleg members of house observed the title of the bill which they thought was inappropriate. There were many inputs in regard to the name, so they asked discussion of this bill be postponed for deeper review. The problem now in this discussion was on the title aspect. Even during field survey in search for input, there were even pro and contra voices to this bill issue. Vice chairman of Baleg of house Ida Fauziah also agreed that deeper analysis would be necessary in regard to this Bill. If this Bill were felt as unprotective to the public, it would be better off with changing the title. In principle, never let any party be disadvantaged by the law.