Smokers flout anti-smoking bylaw
Many local residents were still seen puffing away on their favorite cigarettes in malls and other public areas as the Surabaya municipal administration started enforcing the bylaw against smoking in public places on Thursday.
Budi, a shopper at a mall, said Thursday he was unaware such an ordinance had been enacted last year in Surabaya.
Nor did he know that Thursday was the first day city residents would be prohibited from smoking in public places.
However, passive smokers and other residents hailed the enforcement of the no-smoking area and limited smoking-area bylaw.
They said they were “very happy” to have such a bylaw and hoped people would obey it to increase everyone’s quality of life.
To promote and raise awareness about the bylaw’s enforcement, a number of students gathered at several public places on Thursday in Surabaya, giving visitors candies in lieu of their cigarettes.
