http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=140747
The tobacco growers demand from the President to impose a veto on the amendments, along with keeping jobs in the sector, and protecting investments in the country's business.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/06/28/letter-who-tobacco-and-farmers.html
Accepting the WHO’s recommendation to say no to tobacco seems too early without considering the implications for tobacco farmers. It will crash their economy and increase the percentage of people living in poverty, which has decreased in 2012 in Indonesia.
Soedaryono, the general chairman of AMTI (Indonesian Tobacco Society Alliance), was quoted by Rimanews on May 28 as saying, “We urge the government to listen to our voice as the tobacco farmers and part of Indonesian society rather than receive an agriculture policy that is incomprehensible. This is an external force that does not understand the real situation.”
The industry was formalised eight years ago after the government initiated Operation Murambatsvina.
Albert Munemo, a kitchen unit-maker, said the influx of farmers bringing the crop to auction floors had resulted in an upsurge in business.
He, however, said since the decline in tobacco deliveries, business was slowing down.
“Business is very slow now. Maybe people have no money, but we benefited from tobacco farmers. Now they are gone,” Munemo said.
Albert Munemo, a kitchen unit-maker, said the influx of farmers bringing the crop to auction floors had resulted in an upsurge in business.
He, however, said since the decline in tobacco deliveries, business was slowing down.
“Business is very slow now. Maybe people have no money, but we benefited from tobacco farmers. Now they are gone,” Munemo said.
The head of House of Representatives Commission IX, which oversees health matters, on Thursday criticized some nongovernmental organizations for receiving funding from the Bloomberg Initiative, a global tobacco control effort.
“For example, ICW [Indonesian Corruption Watch], which is concerned about eradicating corruption, is instead receiving foreign donations,” Ribka Tjiptaning said. “They are prostituting their own nation. We know how they get money.”
She said that ICW had received $45,470 in July 2010 to bolster an anti-tobacco campaign mainly aimed at reshaping tobacco regulation in Indonesia.
Ribka said the funding was also meant to support the government’s plan to issue a tobacco control bill amid criticism that the regulation threatened some 15 million Indonesian tobacco farmers whose lives depended on the tobacco industry.
“For example, ICW [Indonesian Corruption Watch], which is concerned about eradicating corruption, is instead receiving foreign donations,” Ribka Tjiptaning said. “They are prostituting their own nation. We know how they get money.”
She said that ICW had received $45,470 in July 2010 to bolster an anti-tobacco campaign mainly aimed at reshaping tobacco regulation in Indonesia.
Ribka said the funding was also meant to support the government’s plan to issue a tobacco control bill amid criticism that the regulation threatened some 15 million Indonesian tobacco farmers whose lives depended on the tobacco industry.
