Change Smoking Habit By Law Enforcement

Denpasar (Antara Bali) - Changing smoking habit takes time and perseverance that can be pushed through law enforcement, Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika said here on Monday.

"Effective protection will be obtained when the people themselves understand the rights of their lives and actively take action to protect themselves and their environment from someone else's cigarette smoke," Mangku Pastika said.

Speaking at Provincial Legislative Assembly (DPRD) plenary meeting to discuss Regional Regulation Draft (Raperda) on cigarettes-free areas, the governor reminded smokers in the province to smoke outside the buildings or in the open air.

"We ask smokers to smoke in designated places. This is all aimed for our common health," Pastika said, adding that smoking habit without the constraint has become an accepted social norm for years.

He said that if there was any attempt to avoid the cigarette smoke of others, it was more generally because of impaired convenience rather than the awareness of threatening health risks.

The governor said permissive attitude towards smoking in any place without any restricting rules has made the smokers feel entitled to smoke anywhere without realizing that they have violated the rights of others.

"Most of the active smokers actually do not care if their cigarette smoke harm the non-smokers because for years they have been spoiled by the environment to smoke anywhere and any place as they wish," the governor said.

Therefore he asserted that the government was  obliged to establish an effective regulation to protect the non-smoking community.

He said the government's seriousness could be seen from the continuous campaigns in cooperation with the managers of public places and workplaces to step up the people's understanding of the dangers of smoking.

Mangku Pastika pointed out that no-smoking areas covered healthcare facilities, places of learning and teaching or schools, places of worship, public transportation, work places, and bus stations.(*)