Jakarta Health Coalition Rejects Indoor Smoking Room Proposal

Jakarta, MINA – Public health advocates in Jakarta have strongly opposed the Governor’s proposal to reintroduce designated indoor smoking rooms in public facilities and buildings, warning it would reverse 15 years of progress in creating smoke-free spaces and put public health at risk.

The Smoke-Free Jakarta Coalition, led by coordinator Dollaris Riauaty Suhadi (Waty), voiced strong resistance to the plan.

“Indoor smoking rooms have been banned in Jakarta since 2010 or 15 years now. The regulation has been in place and well-implemented. Why should the city move backward?” Waty told MINA on Friday.

Current regulations only permit smoking outdoors and away from building entrances.

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Coalition members emphasized that indoor smoking rooms are both ineffective and dangerous. A 2009 study by Johns Hopkins University (USA), conducted with the Jakarta Provincial Government, found that levels of dangerous fine particles (PM2.5) in restaurants with indoor smoking rooms reached nearly 2,000 µg/m³, tens times higher than the World Health Organization’s safe limit of 25 µg/m³. The study also found nicotine residue in 86 percent of the surveyed venues.

“Don’t kill us with cigarette smoke! Even the smallest exposure is harmful. Smoke clings to chairs, sofas, tables, curtains, and carpets, creating hazardous particles for babies, children, pregnant women, the elderly, and other vulnerable groups,” said Titi Suharyati, Secretary-General of the Indonesian Child Protection Agency (LPAI).

Health experts further warned that smoke from indoor smoking rooms can easily leak into surrounding areas through doors, defeating the purpose of smoke-free zones.

The coalition called on the Jakarta Provincial Government to remain consistent in enforcing long-standing smoke-free regulations rather than reviving policies that would worsen air quality and endanger public health. []

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Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)