Beyond the holiday hotspot of Bali, Indonesia is not a place many of us think about much. But it’s an interesting country. Around 270 million people live there, scattered across the 18,000 plus islands that make up the country. It is also the world’s largest Muslim nation and is steadily becoming more conservative. The median age is just over 28 years. Average annual income is about USD$3,360.
Lots of facts. Let’s add one more. Indonesia has the highest rate of male smokers on the planet. It’s one of the last great unregulated, anything goes markets for the tobacco industry.
Smoking rates are usually higher in developing countries such as Indonesia than in developed countries such as the USA. Overall, smokers in developing nations comprise 73% of the world’s smokers.
But in China, where smoking rates are also high, there is a concerted campaign by the government and health authorities to reduce smoking rates. There is evidence of some success with this. In neighbouring Malaysia, the smoking rate amongst adult males is nearly 40% less than it is in Indonesia and is in long term decline.
But the smoking rate in Indonesia remains stubbornly high. 75% of all adult males smoke in Indonesia. Whereas smoking rates tend to be in decline in most countries, in Indonesia it is increasing. Only 56% of Indonesian adult males smoked in 2000.
Cigarettes are cheap in Indonesia. In downtown Jakarta you can buy them in singles for about USD$0.06 each or $1.50 a packet.
Cigarettes are abundant and widely available. That’s one of the secrets to the high smoking rate. Dead simple really – make them easily available and cheap. It helps that all the ingredients needed to make cigarettes are readily available within Indonesia and the cost of labour is cheap.
This article is not meant to be some paternalistic hand wringing about why so many people in a poorer country smoke. Rather it’s about a set of interesting cultural norms and a government that seems unconcerned about the long term financial, social, and health impacts of a high smoking rate amongst its population.
And it’s about how the tobacco industry is making hay while the sun shines bright.
The Malboro Man gets turbo charged
The perils of smoking are well enough known in Indonesia but smoking is tightly allied to the concept of masculinity in Indonesia. You might remember the very successful and hyper masculine Malboro Man advertisements from forty years ago that have long since been banned in western markets. When the Indonesian Government opened the country to foreign tobacco countries in the 1990s, the tobacco companies brought with them that Malboro Man strategy, turbo charged it, and struck a chord with Indonesian males.
Interestingly, only about 5% of Indonesian women smoke.
When big tobacco set up shop in Indonesia it brought with them western style cigarettes. They weren’t an immediate hit locally. Indonesians have traditionally smoked kretek cigarettes which are made with tobacco (about 70%), crushed cloves and clove oil. They still make up 75% of all cigarettes brought in Indonesia. Indonesians like local brands, so the foreign tobacco companies started buying up local tobacco companies.
Philip Morris now owns HM Sampoerna which has approximately 35% of the Indonesian smoking market. Benteol is controlled by British American Tobacco. In total, there are approximately 250 active cigarette manufacturers across Indonesia. With annual sales in Indonesia of USD$21.5 billion and growing at 5% per annum and providing 10% of the country’s tax revenue, it’s no wonder the Indonesian Government is taking a largely hands off approach to smoking in Indonesia.
A laissez faire approach to tobacco advertising
Tobacco advertising isn’t restricted in Indonesia like it is in many countries.
Tobacco advertising can no longer show actual smoking and cannot advertise at all on TV before 9.30pm. But as any advertising student will tell you, effective advertising doesn’t need to show product use. Effective advertising shows the benefits that come from using the product – lifestyle, friends, enjoyment, social acceptance, masculinity.
In 2011, Phillip Morris ran an advertising campaign for its Sampoerna brand, rather adroitly acknowledging that while cigarettes are bad for you, “Dying is better than leaving a friend. Sampoerna is a cool friend.”
Which is way more macho than the Malboro Man.
In addition to traditional media, the tobacco companies have embraced social media and harnessed it to expand tobacco’s appeal into the middle and upper classes. In Indonesia, as elsewhere, cigarette use had been most prevalent amongst the poorer sections of the population. Not any more.
Controlling what’s shown online and in social media as well as determining what constitutes advertising and what doesn’t is as problematic in Indonesia as it is elsewhere.
Earlier in June, the government took steps to block 122 posts on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube that showed cigarette advertising and promptly went into an orgy of “see, we are doing something” round of self congratulation.
But critics and health professionals see the level of government proactivity as about as effective as brushing an elephant with a feather.
And no-one is really sure whether the Indonesian Government even had the authority to pull the online advertising.
There does seem to be some concern that the level of tobacco on social media is targeting children. The incidence of smoking amongst Indonesian children is also on the rise. Hook them young, keep them til they drop.
Big tobacco’s response has been singularly unimpressive. Kids aren’t meant to be using social media, they say. Therefore, it’s okay to advertise on social media.
YouTube is swimming in clips about kids smoking in Indonesia. One, of a tubby toddler who got through 40 cigarettes a day has received 34.5 million views. Another about a nine year old has picked up 12 million views.
In addition to TV and online, there is extensive billboard, radio and sponsorship advertising by tobacco companies that is largely unregulated.
And big tobacco in Indonesia isn’t shy about taking advantage of this. In a world where governments are tightening the noose around tobacco advertising, Indonesia remains the wild west.
Between watching Dad and the older brothers all smoke, combined with saturation mainstream and online advertising, it isn’t surprising that the rate of smoking for Indonesian kids aged between 10 and 14 years has doubled in the last 20 years.
For their little brothers, the boys aged between 5 and 9 years, the rate has tripled.
There’s one story online about a six year old boy called Dihan. Dihan lives in Cicapar, a rural area in West Java. Dihan’s Dad is a tobacco farmer and a smoker. Dihan was getting through the equivalent of two packets a day of cigarettes. He’s cut it down to three or four cigarettes are day. Mum and Dad are chuffed.
Why is the Indonesian Government such a toothless tiger?
There are a few reasons. Firstly, the tobacco sector is Indonesia’s second largest direct and indirect employer after the government sector. It provides and income for millions of workers and their families.
And as noted, it provides a big portion of Indonesia’s tax revenue.
Secondly, the government may be reluctant to crack down on a practice that has deep cultural and social roots. Indonesia is a relatively conservative society and tends to react badly to what it perceives as assaults on its social and cultural norms. Smoking is normalised and there’s a constant reinforcement process going on.
Thirdly, many of the relevant decision makers and leaders smoke. It’s akin to asking a man who enjoys a bottle of pinot to crack down on wine consumption. Will their heart ever really be in it?
Fourth, the connections between big tobacco and government run deep. The President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, is considered a relative cleanskin but somewhat ineffective in the face of powerful factions within Indonesia’s government, military and religious ruling class. Corruption has been a problem in Indonesia and credit needs to be extended to Widodo for making some progress here. Indonesia is currently ranked the 89th least corrupt nation in Transparency International’s 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index
A health time bomb
Smoking currently kills more than 200,000 Indonesians a year. With the uptake in smoking since 2000, we can expect that figure to rise significantly in the future as smoking related health issues begin to impact on an ageing population.
To some extent, Indonesia is still in denial about the future impact of smoking. The Jakarta Post ran a story last year about the impact of smoking worldwide based on a WHO study and managed not to mention Indonesia once.
Already tobacco related health costs are more than double the tax revenue from tobacco.
By 2030, it is estimated the cost of tobacco related diseases to the Indonesian economy will be USD$4.5 trillion.
For economic reasons alone, the Indonesian Government needs to take a stand on cigarette smoking.
That’s before the human cost is counted.
Photo: Danumurthi Mahendra