A Holiday Without Cigarettes: Smoking Ban To Hit Bali

Denpasar. Bali visitors as well as locals might find it harder to smoke on the tropical island after the provincial legislature passed a new bylaw on Anti-Smoking Areas on Monday.

“I want all people to be healthy and the bylaw is an implementation of the 2009 Health Law,” Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika said after attending the Bali legislative council (DPRD) plenary meeting.

“Regarding this smoking ban in tourism centers, I think tourists will understand. Instead, it is Bali’s people who often do not understand.”

The bylaw mandates that all tourism destinations or “tourism support facilities” like hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars and discotheques will be smoke-free.

It also bans smoking in places of worship, health facilities, schools, children’s playgrounds and public places like markets and airports. Public buses will also be smoke-free, as well all government offices, including police and military offices.

In addition to banning smoking in these places, the bylaw also forbids the sale of cigarettes and tobacco advertisements at these locations.

Breaching this new bylaw carries a maximum sanction of six months imprisonment or a fine of Rp 50 million ($5,450).

“The bylaw is definitely needed to protect people from the dangers of smoking,” said Utami Dwi Suryadi, secretary of the bylaw committee. “It needs to be implemented seriously and strictly. We need to educate people about the impacts of smoking.”

Bali Health Agency Head Nyoman Sutedja said that especially for hotels, the government will assess the implementation of the bylaw.

“The assessment results will be used to rank [hotel] compliance towards the bylaw,” he said. “So there will be hotels with blue, yellow or red category ratings. Blue category means totally free from cigarette smoke.”

Pastika said his administration would begin informing the public about the new regulation and educating them about the dangers of smoking.

Ida Bagus Ngurah Wijaya, chairman of the Bali Tourism Board, said officials might have trouble enforcing the regulation in public facilities like the DPRD building, where the bylaw was passed on Monday.

“Every time I am invited for a hearing at the DPRD, members smoke in the meeting room,” he said. “But I don’t think we will have a problem from tourists.”

Tengara Swara Tama, a manager at the Hard Rock Cafe in Kuta, said that even before the bylaw was passed, the restaurant had planned to be smoke-free by next year.

Source : http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/a-holiday-without-cigarettes-smoking-ban-to-hit-bali/481329

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