EDITORIAL: Lawmakers the butt of the joke in the tobacco war
Over the past week, people have been amused, curious and outraged at the same time about the missing key “tobacco provision”, which has become a subject of heated debate during the deliberations in which the interests of many stakeholders were involved.
It was a good thing that some former members of the special legislative committee in charge of deliberating the much-anticipated bill realized that one of the three paragraphs in chapter 113 of the finalized bill was conspicuously missing, while the bundle had already been submitted to the state secretariat for President Susilo Bambang Yudho-yono to sign into law.
The media detailed the sophistication of the omitted paragraph. T . . .
The lost provision singles out tobacco as an addictive and dangerous substance the use of which will be more tightly regulated under the law. This was a key issue that had survived bitter debates during deliberations of the bill because it would have wide-ranging ramifications on the multi-billion dollar tobacco business.
Advocates hoped the provision would account for a stronger legal basis for the government to better protect citizens from the danger of cigarettes and to reign in the tobacco industry. But critics, notably the tobacco industry, have always sought lenient laws that will not harm their business.
The omitted paragraph states, “The addictive substances … include: Tobacco, derivative products containing solid, liquid and gaseous tobacco, which are addictive in nature and the use of which can cause health hazards to oneself and/or others”.
After a storm of protests, the House assured the disappearance was all unintentional and that the “tobacco provision” has been put back in the draft bill that the President will sign into law. . . .
Although the House and the State Secretariat have assured that the missing provision has been recovered and reinstated, the laughing public will have to continue applying pressure for a criminal investigation into the scandal.
