REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Chief Executive of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) Tulus Abadi stated that Indonesia should follow the example of Australia's tobacco control. Abadi revealed that Indonesia's defeat in the lawsuit against the policy of packing cigarettes in the WTO should be a lesson that cigarette consumption should be strictly controlled starting from excise, selling price, and health warning on cigarette packaging.

"Australia's policy is exemplary by any country, including Indonesia, to protect the health of its people," he stated in a written message received here on Thursday.

The WTO trial rejected the Indonesian government's lawsuit, along with Cuba, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic, against the policy of plain cigarette packaging by the Australian government. The Indonesian government argued that the Australian government's policy violates copyrights and intellectual property and trademarks of tobacco products.

According to him, the Indonesian government's move to challenge Australia's policy on plain cigarette packaging is a silly and shameful step in international terms. This is because the whole world is currently racing to control the consumption of cigarettes.

Evidently, there are 188 countries in the world, or 90 percent of countries in the world, that have ratified or acceded to the Tobacco Control Framework Convention (FCTC).

"I think the Indonesian government's lawsuit is a counterculture act that has become the laughingstock of the world, and the people involved in the lawsuit are small countries and would not get the support of the world's big powers," he added.

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