My interview subject is called Muh Abdillah Akbar. He is a student from UMY, and studies government system as a major. In his free time, he likes to go swimming and read novels. His favorite novel is Sophie’s World. He is currently a smoker. Question: What do you feel about the regulation of no smoking on campus? He says that he thinks it’s good to have regulations and agrees that he should smoke less. Question: what are you interested in? He says he is interested in studying different government system and relations. Question: do you see yourself quitting smoking one day? He says that he want to quit in the future. Question: are you aware of the disease that could cause by smoking? He says that he does. Question: How much do you spend on cigarettes each week? He says he doesn’t remember. Question: what do you like to do after school? He says he likes to enjoy a cigarette after a meal. Question: what do you see yourself in twenty years? He says he will become a politician. After observation, it is discovered that the problem of smoking in the city is greater than in rural areas. There are some smokers in rural areas, mostly farmers and workers but no young adults, whereas, there are many young smokers in the city. There are also many smokers in universities, which reflects what Muh had told during the interview. Statics shows people in Indonesia who receives higher education is more likely to smoke than the ones who have lower education. (2013)

 Moreover, it is shown that increase tax on cigarettes would reduce the amount of one smokes because it wouldn’t be easily affordable for young adults or teenagers.(2014) During the interview, the Muh didn’t reveal how much it costs him to smoke for a week. If the tax was added on, he would not be able to afford to smoke as much as he does now. Therefore, a positive change could be make.

  There are also many second-hand smokers effected by the tobacco issue not only on campus, but other parts of the cities as well. Muh is aware of the issue that smoking could cause and he agrees with the restriction on campus without any hesitation, which makes him a considerate https://wx.qq.com/cgi-bin/mmwebwx-bin/webwxgeticon?seq=689185857&username=@9379483da857aa46f05e380253a353931b190d205cf3d98191f64fcb3c6e5ebe&skey=@crypt_b294d307_d94771d0785e5a3a5ebbd1dce6de59b1smoker. He will possibly follow the rules and not to harm any second-hand smokers on campus.

Reference list:

Kusumawardani N. 2013, ‘Socio-economic, demographic and geographic correlates of cigarette smoking among Indonesian adolescents: results from the 2013 Indonesian Basic Health Research survey’, Global Health Action, vol. 3, First, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5990951/>

Nurwidya F. 2014, ‘Strategies for an effective tobacco harm reduction policy in Indonesia.’, Epidemiology and Health, vol. 4, First, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4322520/#!po=1.31579>

 Danubrata E. Costa A., 2017, ‘Exclusive: Indonesia eyes decree on tobacco after bill runs into opposition.’, World News, vol. 1, First, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4322520/#!po=1.31579>

 To begin with, Indonesian tobacco companies are using advertising to stimulate western counterparts. (1999) There are many advertising on the side of the road to promote tobacco. Although more ambiguous than imagined, the effect is nevertheless negative. People pass by the road everyday would see those advertisement and thinking that smoking is okay because it is everywhere.

   It is hard for local clinic to practice smoking free education since there are so many obstacles, which gives more space for the tobacco business and advertisement. Indonesia is considered a advertising paradise since there is hardly any regulations and restrictions involved. (2008)There are no warnings or any kind of image demonstrates the disease cause by smoking. In the section: Youth masculinity: the pleasure of the crowd and identity seeking(2008), demonstrates a way to promote smoking by encouraging young adults to find where they belong to. Usually the scene includes young men sitting around together, sharing cigarettes. Most of the young male smokers at university do follow this habit of having a cigarette after lunch or dinner at the cafeteria, and for them it is a free time to socialize and have a conversation. However, the false advertisement makes them believe that having a cigarette is a must, there are other ways to make friends and find out where they belong to.  There was a campaign that made by local Indonesia designer and UTS that promotes a healthier lifestyle, and more local designers should involve in promoting anti-smoking. They can be designing some activities for the university students to have after class instead of gather around and smoke. Also, there could be education system to design and to collaborate with local clinic to help with more young smokers. The environment that created by the tobacco business is effecting health issues of Indonesian, but designers can help with the situations in many ways. There are certainly pressure coming from the government because ten percent of the income comes from tobacco business. Nevertheless, it’s not impossible to make a brighter future for Indonesia.

Reference list:

Reynolds C. 1999, ‘Tobacco advertising in Indonesia: “the defining characteristics for success”, Tobacco Control, n.d., First, 20^th December 2019, <https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/8/1/85>

Nichter M. 2008, ‘Reading culture from tobacco advertisements in Indonesia.’, University of Arizona, n.d., First, 20^th Dcember 2019, <https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/8/1/85>

CM Best. K Sun. 2007, ‘Paternal smoking and increased risk of child malnutrition among families in rural Indonesia.’ , AD WATCH, vol. 88, First, 20^th December 2019, <https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/39629862/Paternal_smoking_and_increased_risk_of_c20151103-23814-1y71acy.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DPaternal_smoking_and_increased_risk_of_c.pdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A%2F20191220%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20191220T081440Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=839ebbd13266e6d913f7597b858dd2712e43d53373037f67811caa333f84f09c>

To begin with, there are more than 2,677,000 children and 53,767,000 adults tobacco users in Indonesia. 57.1 percent of men, 3.6 percent of women, 41 percent of bots and 3.5 percent of girls to be exact. (2017)

Tuksongo village which locates in Magelang, Central Java, contains the biggest tobacco field. The process of growing and drying tobacco requires laborers from the village, and it forms a production chain. (2018) The success once made of tobacco business continues to encourage the production. Moreover, the smoking culture had form itself by the effect of tobacco business, and it has been there for generations.

The fact that the profit of the business supports the residents’ income makes it more difficult to separate the smoking culture from Magelang. Most boys in Magelang start to smoke cigarettes at a very young age. As they first start smoking, most of their money were spent on cigarettes, and the need to smoke starts to grow a few years after. (2018) Young boys do not fully aware of the damage that cigarettes can do to their health, and they are too young and not fully-educated to realize the consequence. The value of what cigarettes represents, adulthood and masculinity, pass through generations. Therefore, it made tobacco control campaigns much more difficult to practice. (reference) It is hard to address the deadly cost of tobaccos when the business has been running for decades as well as the harmful legacy.

Moreover, Authorities are reluctant to put regulations into practice because they would face lots of dilemma and awkward situations. What they are facing are not only the smoking teenagers but a tradition that is powerful and stubborn. Therefore, instead of solve the real problem, they rather focus their energy onto putting up campaigns and advertisings that are against smoking.

Nevertheless, a group meeting of tobacco farmers are being held in Magelang on 19 November 2019. These who are involved are the famers who change their path away from tobacco industry, as they realize how much damages had smoking cost on teenagers and children. The goal is to urge the government to practice policies that would help with the situation and change people’s life in Indonesia. (2019) The current environment is that those who have low-income are spending more than they should on tobacco, and the fact that Magelang produces tobacco makes the children and teenagers have access to low-price, fresh-handed cigarettes.