Change.org petition lights up smoking ban violations

The Jakarta Environmental Management Agency has disclosed that 90 percent of malls and shopping centers that it inspected in the Indonesian capital were in violation of a gubernatorial regulation banning tobacco smoking in public places, according to a story in The Jakarta Post.

“Ninety percent of malls and shopping centers we inspected violated the bylaw,” the agency head Gamal Sinurat said on Friday.

He indicated that these establishments were being monitored by the agency and that they would be the subject of harsher sanctions if they continued to act in breach of the bylaw.

The story came to light after Jakarta resident Elysabeth Ongkojoyo took to change.org on Wednesday to start a petition against Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, Lippo Malls Indonesia and the management of coffee-shop chain J.Co demanding that tenants who allowed their customers to smoke in malls and other public places be seriously sanctioned.

The petition had attracted more than 16,000 signatures as of Friday afternoon.