Muhammadiyah declares smoking to be haram

While a government ban on smoking in public remains ineffective, Muhammadiyah is moving to ban its followers from smoking cigarettes altogether.

But the haram edict issued Tuesday is likely to be rejected by smokers in the country, one of the world’s biggest tobacco consumers.

In 2008, for instance, 240 billion cigarettes were sold in Indonesia, according to official statistics.

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) previously issued a similar edict, which bans children and pregnant women from smoking. Even then, a part of society felt that the religious statement did not sit well with them.

Muhammadiyah deputy chairman Yunahar Ilyas said that it was imperative that smoking be banned as Indonesian people had become more exposed to the dangers of smoking over the last few years.

Muhammadiyah, the country’s second-largest Muslim group, based its argument on the Koran, which bans Muslims from taking their own lives. Smoking, Yunahar said, has been proven to kill.

The organization’s health council also cited that smoking posed a threat to not only to smokers’ lives but also the lives of others.

Yunahar said money spent on cigarettes was money wasted.

He also said that Muhammadiyah would not just “sit back” after issuing the edict.

“We realize that we need to raise people’s awareness if we want to implement this edict. It’s a process that will take time,” he said.

The health council is planning to provide counseling for smokers who wish to quit.

Yunahar said Muhammadiyah was also preparing to assist tobacco farmers in shifting to other “more beneficial and healthier” crops. He urged the government to limit the country’s tobacco imports as they hurt small farmers.

“The argument that farmers and the country’s economy will suffer under smoking bans can be easily countered.

“The fact is, those that benefit most are the industry owners, not the farmers. If the government maintains that the economy benefits from the industry, why not legalize the narcotics industry also?”

Muhammadiyah urged the government and the House of Representatives to ratify the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) and formulate related laws in order to curb the health impacts of cigarette smoking. Indonesia is the only ASEAN member that is not-party to the WHO FCTC.

The edict gains great support from the National Commission for Child Protection, which has been voicing concerns on child smokers.

Commission chairman Seto Mulyadi said tobacco advertising was enticing to children. According to him, there are cases of five-year-old smokers.

A survey conducted by the Tobacco Control Support Center, which was established by the Indonesian Mass Health Expert Association (IAKMI), shows that the prevalence of child smokers between five and nine years old grew more than

fourfold from 0.4 percent in 2001 to 1.8 percent in 2004.

“This will ruin the younger generation,” Seto said.

Giant cigarette producer PT HM Sampoerna said it “respected the views of Muhammadiyah [but] believed that smoking was an adult choice that Indonesian adults should be able to make.

“We believe that issues surrounding tobacco are best addressed through comprehensive and effective government legislation or regulation in line with the Indonesian government’s industry roadmap.

“We will continue to advocate for measures such as a minimum age law and further restrictions on tobacco marketing,” it said in a statement received by The Jakarta Post.