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Indonesia is 'cash cow' for cigarette industry, says SEATCA 

Of South-East Asia's 125 million cigarette smokers some 46 per cent are in Indonesia, the only country in the region that has no legislation banning cigarette advertisements, the South-East Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) said Monday. The anti-smoking group said Indonesia has become a "cash cow" for Philip Morris International (PMI), the owner of Indonesia's PT HM Sampoerna Company which last year claimed 30 per cent of the Indonesian market and an estimated revenue of 1 billion dollars.

"More profits for Philip Morris means more deaths for us in Asia," SEATCA Senior Policy Advisor Mary Assunta said.

Some 63 per cent of Indonesian men smoke, with an estimated 200,000 dying each year of smoking-related diseases, SEATCA claimed.

SEATCA faulted Indonesia for having the weakest anti-smoking legislation in South-East Asia.

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