TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said that Indonesia would not ratify the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) just because other countries have ratified the agreement.
"As many as 183 countries in the world have ratified the FCTC. We don't want to [ratify the FCTC] merely to follow the trend or just because many countries have ratified it. We have to consider the national interest," Jokowi said during a closed meeting at the State Palace on Tuesday, June 14, 2016.
The FCTC is the first international treaty deliberated in a WHO forum, aimed at limiting and controlling distributions of tobacco products.
Earlier on January 2015, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said that cigarettes covers a significant percentage in the list of commodities that influence the national poverty rate in 2014.
"If [tobacco products] were about to be restricted, the impact [towards the national poverty rate] would be huge," BPS head Suryamin said at his office on Friday, January 2, 2015.
Data from the BPS revealed that cigarette products contribute to 11.18 percent of poverty rate in urban areas and 9.39 percent in rural areas.
To this date, Indonesia has not ratified the treaty because the country is one of the largest tobacco producers in the world.
President Jokowi suggested that the decision to ratify the FCTC must be made in consideration of several factors, including the percentage of people suffering tobacco-inflicted illness. In addition, Jokowi added that tobacco farmers' welfare must also be considered before ratifying the FCTC.
"Also, [we need to consider] the benefits [of ratifying the FCTC] for Indonesia," Jokowi said.
ISTMAN MP
