Impassioned plea for tobacco

The Indonesian government should restrict tobacco imports soon so as to save the livelihoods of local tobacco growers, according to an Antara News Agency story quoting the director of the Wahid Foundation Yenny Wahid.

In a press note issued on Sunday, Yenny urged the government to pass a tobacco bill to save local tobacco growers whose future was on the line due to the “onslaught of tobacco imports, particularly from China”.

The existing tobacco regulation had many loopholes and, consequently, the volume of tobacco imports had increased.

Tobacco was an asset of the Indonesian nation, she said, and a new law should protect growers’ interests and improve their welfare.

“The import of tobacco has exceeded the tolerable limit,” she added. “Saving tobacco growers amounts to saving Indonesia.”