A garbage collector smoking a cigarette while working at the Bantar
Gebang landfill in Bekasi, West Java. (Photo: Yudhi Sukma Wijaya, JG)
Direct government cash aid
given to poor families is counterproductive as more than half of the money is
spent on cigarettes, according to the Indonesian Consumers Foundation.
Tulus Abadi, the operational manager of the foundation, also known as the YLKI, said on Tuesday that the government should only distribute the assistance, known as BLT, to nonsmoking families.
“Not smoking should be one of the conditions for the families to receive the funds,” Tulus said.
“Otherwise, they will keep on spending their money on cigarettes,” he added.
According to the 2007 National Socioeconomic Survey (Susenas), 12 million out of 19 million poor families in rural areas who received BLT spent Rp 52,000 ($5) monthly on cigarettes.
Families eligible for the BLT program receive Rp 100,000 each month in direct cash assistance.
Tulus said that nationally, poor families in villages spent 14 percent of their total income on cigarettes, the second-highest expenditure after food, at 19 percent.
Another survey conducted by Susenas in 2008 found that in large cities across the country, poor families spent 22 percent of their income on cigarettes while 19 percent was allocated for food.
Tulus said the BLT program would not ease poverty because the money was being spent on the wrong things. “Instead of spending the aid on education and food, they [poor families] spend it on cigarettes and it does not help them at all,” he said.
Last month, Farid Anfasa Moeloek, former head of the Indonesian Doctors Association and a former health minister, said Indonesia was facing a potential “lost generation” because money was being allocated to cigarettes instead of food in households where the father was a smoker.
Research conducted by the School of Public Health at the University of Indonesia in 2007 showed that 44 percent of babies in West Nusa Tenggara and 41 percent in East Nusa Tenggara suffered from malnutrition.
The study found that many of the infants suffered from malnutrition because 71.4 percent of fathers in West Nusa Tenggara and 61.9 percent in East Nusa Tenggara were active smokers.
Tulus said Unicef data showed that of the 162,000 infants in the country who died in 2006, 32,400 deaths were due to malnutrition and were linked to having a smoker in the family.
Tulus Abadi, the operational manager of the foundation, also known as the YLKI, said on Tuesday that the government should only distribute the assistance, known as BLT, to nonsmoking families.
“Not smoking should be one of the conditions for the families to receive the funds,” Tulus said.
“Otherwise, they will keep on spending their money on cigarettes,” he added.
According to the 2007 National Socioeconomic Survey (Susenas), 12 million out of 19 million poor families in rural areas who received BLT spent Rp 52,000 ($5) monthly on cigarettes.
Families eligible for the BLT program receive Rp 100,000 each month in direct cash assistance.
Tulus said that nationally, poor families in villages spent 14 percent of their total income on cigarettes, the second-highest expenditure after food, at 19 percent.
Another survey conducted by Susenas in 2008 found that in large cities across the country, poor families spent 22 percent of their income on cigarettes while 19 percent was allocated for food.
Tulus said the BLT program would not ease poverty because the money was being spent on the wrong things. “Instead of spending the aid on education and food, they [poor families] spend it on cigarettes and it does not help them at all,” he said.
Last month, Farid Anfasa Moeloek, former head of the Indonesian Doctors Association and a former health minister, said Indonesia was facing a potential “lost generation” because money was being allocated to cigarettes instead of food in households where the father was a smoker.
Research conducted by the School of Public Health at the University of Indonesia in 2007 showed that 44 percent of babies in West Nusa Tenggara and 41 percent in East Nusa Tenggara suffered from malnutrition.
The study found that many of the infants suffered from malnutrition because 71.4 percent of fathers in West Nusa Tenggara and 61.9 percent in East Nusa Tenggara were active smokers.
Tulus said Unicef data showed that of the 162,000 infants in the country who died in 2006, 32,400 deaths were due to malnutrition and were linked to having a smoker in the family.
In 2004, Indonesia joined 167 countries in signing
the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, but is
one of only four nations yet to ratify the treaty.
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