The Open Ethics Journal

2013, 7 : 11-18
Published online 2013 November 29. DOI: 10.2174/1874761201307010011
Publisher ID: TOJ-7-11

Civil Society and Tobacco Control in Indonesia: The Last Resort

Harsman Tandilittin and Christoph Luetge
Business Ethics, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Marsstrasse 20-22, D-80335 Munich, Germany

ABSTRACT

In many countries around the world, the mechanisms of civil society have become very commonplace. Large companies are under constant pressure from civil society organizations to change their policies, strategies and approaches. The tobacco industry in particular is under heavy pressure in many parts of the world. Smoking has been prohibited in many public as well as private or semi-private areas in a large number of countries. However, while smoking as an addic-tion seems to be declining in some countries, in others it is not. This paper presents an example of a country (Indonesia) in which smoking is still on the rise. We discuss how mechanisms of civil society are a chance to at least improve the situa-tion and effectively combat a grave social problem.

Keywords:

Civil society organizations, Tobacco control barriers, Tobacco control research, Tobacco control funds, Vote for tobacco control.