Muslim Group Backs Jakarta Plan to Deny Free Care for Smoking-Related Illness

Jakarta smokers may soon find themselves on their
own if their habit makes them sick

A Muslim group has weighed in to support Jakarta’s plan to withhold free medical care for smoking-related illnesses as part of efforts to curb tobacco consumption.

The chairman of the South Sumatra Ulema Council, KHM Sodikun, said on Tuesday that the policy would warn smokers that their habit had more risks than advantages.

But Amidhan, chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), said the smoking issue should not be linked to the health insurance plan for the poor.

“I haven’t heard South Sumatra’s Ulema Council’s suggestion but if it’s true, then it’s wrong,” Amidhan told.

“Pronouncing smoking as haram [sinful] is one thing, while the health security scheme for poor people is another thing. If we can help those infected with HIV/AIDS, why can’t we help the smokers?”

Muhammadiyah, the country’s second-largest Muslim organization, recently declared smoking sinful, but the MUI and Nahdlatul Ulama, the biggest, have maintained it is undesirable but not forbidden.

The Jakarta government said in February that it would smoking-related cases would not be eligible for the Gakin health scheme, considering that smokers from poor families spent 22 percent of their income on cigarettes.

Dien Emawati, head of the city health agency, told it would start informing the public of the plan soon.

“We will promote it via posters and information provided at public health clinics,” she said, adding that they agency would hold a survey to identify Gakin card holders who smoked. They would be counseled on the dangers of smoking and the risk to their families’ future.

“In 2012 we will enforce the sanction. Smokers will not get health care for illnesses caused by smoking,” she said.

But Gakin beneficiaries would still be entitled to coverage for unrelated conditions.

“We don’t want to push it by force as this is actually an education for the head of families to be concerned about the health of themselves and their families.”

Governor Fauzi Bowo said the city could not justify paying the bills of people who ruined their health by smoking.

Fuad Baradja, head of the education unit of the Indonesian Smoking Control Foundation (LM3), said the move would make people reconsider their decision to light up.

“Smokers consciously endanger their own health and that of people around them and then ask the government to pay for them. It doesn’t make any sense," he said.

“We must ensure people are fully aware of the harsh consequences, like losing their health insurance coverage, if they keep on smoking.”

But he added that the policy must be applied flexibly.

“If someone has stopped smoking but his tobacco-related disease appears months or years later, the government should give free treatment,” Fuad said. “The most important thing is the person has quit smoking."

Catholic Youths Mar Easter Mass in Papua

Bearing a candle holder depicting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ,
a Catholic worshipper prays during a Mass to mark Easter Sunday
at St. Theresia Church in Cipanas, Bogor, West Java

As millions of Catholics in the country spent Saturday evening praying in churches to mark the night before Easter, youths marred the occasion in Papua by vandalizing the home of a man they said was disturbing the Mass.

Angered by the deafening sound of firecrackers, young worshipers at St. Fransiskus Asisi Koperapoka Church in Timika ran outside to investigate.

They found that firecrackers were being lit near the home of Kadir Sadipun, 65, who was busy preparing for a wedding.

The firecrackers had been set off by teenagers, but this did not stop the youths from stoning Kadir’s home and breaking his windows.

Kadir managed to flee, but a wedding tent set up outside his home was destroyed. The youths then returned to the church.

The priest leading the proceedings, Father Amandus Rahadat, said the congregation had heard the continuous sounds of firecrackers and he had seen the youths run from the church.

“I had asked them to remain calm and not react to the noise coming from outside,” Father Amandus said, adding that he had asked all churchgoers to keep the peace and respect one another, particularly during religious celebrations.

Police were seen guarding Kadir’s house after the attack.

Christian communities across Papua welcomed the dawning of Easter by lighting torches in their backyards.

The backyards in villages such as Bouw, Amroben, Swapodibo, Burokub and Mandala cast a festive flow to mark the special religious event.

“Churchgoers at 3 a.m. on Sunday held a dawn Easter parade carrying lit torches,” Father George Korwa said.

Easter Sunday marks the day Jesus Christ is believed to have risen from the dead, two days after his crucifixion, which is marked on Good Friday.

In Jakarta, celebrations were concentrated at the cathedral in Central Jakarta, the largest Catholic church in the city.

The cathedral celebrated five Masses on Sunday to accommodate the thousands of parishioners.

In the city of Ambon, incessant rain that started just after midnight did not stop worshippers from celebrating the resurrection of Christ.

Easter celebrations in the city began on Saturday evening.

Drenched churchgoers were forced indoors for their celebrations, which included a reenactment of the biblical story.

In Yogyakarta, thousands of Catholics attended celebrations on Saturday night at the Santo Antonius Church in Kotabaru.

In his sermon, Father Wisnu Murti told parishioners that the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ had saved mankind.

“All our sins and mistakes were wiped out with the crucifixion. We rise today with Jesus and begin our new lives, with hope that we should not sin,” Wisnu said.

Claims of Pig Blood in Cigarette Filters Coughs Up a Cloud of Controversy

Not only is smoking deadly, but new research alleges that pigs' blood
is used in the manufacture of filters of the kind used in Indonesian cigarettes

In a claim likely to cause consternation from Muslim smokers, a Dutch author has published a book that claims that pig blood is used to make cigarette filters.

Pig 05049, written by Christien Meindertsma, lists 185 different ways that pigs’ body parts can be used, including in the manufacture of sweets, shampoo, bread, beer and bullets.

Pig hemoglobin is, according to the book, used to filter harmful chemicals in cigarettes.

The Indonesian Consumer Protection Foundation (YLKI) called on authorities to investigate the claims. “If the claim is true then the National Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM), the Ministry of Health and the Indonesian Ulema Council’s Food and Drug Analysis Agency (LPPOM) should immediately conduct a sampling test,” Tulus Abadi, chairman of the YLKI, told the Jakarta Globe.

Tulus said that Indonesian cigarette producers were using imported filters because they are not produced locally.

If the claims are true, Tulus said, the government has a stronger case to take a stand against tobacco. “As the most populous Muslim country, we should be really careful, most smokers in Indonesia are Muslims. How would they feel if they found out that the cigarettes they smoke were made using pig hemoglobin?” he said.

MUI chairman Amidhan said that MUI would not comment on the matter and would not conduct any certification test unless there was a request from the cigarette industry or the importer.

“Smoking is offensive and for now that’s our stance. However this information should be regarded as a warning for smokers to be more aware,” he said.

Professor Simon Chapman from the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney was quoted on the university’s Web site as saying, “many devout Islamic and Jewish smokers and some vegetarians would be horrified to think they were putting a filter in their mouth which contained a pig product.”

Indonesian Islamists in Bogor Disrupt Otherwise Peaceful Good Friday

While most Christians peacefully held Good Friday services across the country on Friday, at least 1,000 churchgoers in Pa­rung, Bogor, had to pray at a restaurant after protests by Muslim hard-liners.

A church member told that on Thursday night the congregation held a two-hour service to observe White Thursday under tents erected on the vacant plot of land in Parung where their John the Baptist church was being built.

Gabriel Michael Kia Telok said the Mass ended peacefully, with police helping to direct traffic around the church construction site. However, some two hours later, a group claiming to belong to the Parung Ulema Forum came and staged a protest rejecting the construction of the church in the area. Gabriel said the protesters claimed the church did not have the necessary construction permits.

The group also threatened to disband forcefully any religious activities held there.

The church originally applied to Bogor authorities for permission to build the church in 1990 but has still not received any response.

“Some 200 young people came to our makeshift chapel and asked us to stop our prayers, which actually were already done. We were terrified, but after they negotiated with our church leaders, the group agreed to move their protest to the Parung district office,” Gabriel said.

To ensure the safety of the congregation, the church leaders decided to move the Good Friday service to a building owned by the local education office, but a miscommunication forced them to move the venue again to a restaurant owned by a church member.

“It’s not the first time the group has staged a protest. Protests also occurred during Easter celebrations in 2008 and Christmas services in 2009,” Gabriel said.

News of the incident spread on microblogging and social networking Web sites, with many offering sympathy and condemning the intimidation. One Facebook user asked: “Is this a permanent incident, as Catholics are not allowed to pray inside their own churches in Bekasi?”

She was referring to an incident last year in which Muslim hard-liners attacked a church under construction in Bekasi. In addition to threats of violence, Indonesian minority religious groups say they face difficulties in obtaining the necessary permits to build places to worship.

According to the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, there were 139 cases of violation of the freedom to worship in Indonesia in 2009.