Could indoor smoking actually be snuffed out in all of Jakarta’s malls someday soon?
Just yesterday, the Smoke Free Coalition of Jakarta (SFJ) named and shamed 14 malls where indoor smoking was found to be taking place in September. SFJ said the 14, including Plaza Blok M, were listed based on the anti-smoking group’s monitoring as well as reports from the public received through the Qlue Smart City application.
Today, the Civil Service Police (Satpol PP) raided two malls in Blok M, South Jakarta: Plaza Blok M and Blok M Square. Officers said the raid was conducted based on reports of persistent smokers in the shopping centers that they had received from the public through Qlue as well.
South Jakarta Satpol PP Commissioner Sulistyarto said the raid was meant to act as a deterrent against reckless smokers who keep puffing away inside the malls due to lack of punishment.
“So if anyone is caught smoking, we would add them to the BAP (dossier) so that next time, when smoking violations occur, we can sanction them,” Sulistyarto said as quoted by Kompas.
About 30 Satpol PP officers were deployed to check every tenant in each mall. At many of the stalls, they not only found people smoking but ashtrays at the ready as well. Officers scolded the tenants and forced them to sign the dossier list, though no actual punishments were handed out during this raid.
They also found people smoking in the basement cafeteria, right next to a no smoking sign.
“But I’m not smoking, sir,” one man, who was sitting right in front of a pack of cigarettes and an ashtray filled with cigarette butts, told officers.
Sulistyarto said he would report all of the offending tenants to the mall management for being in violation of several laws, including Regional Regulation (Perda) No. 2 of 2005 on air pollution and Gubernatorial Regulation No. 50 of 2012 on Guidance, Control and Law Enforcement in Non-smoking Areas.
We never thought we’d see the day where police would raid Blok M Square for smokers. Hopefully this wasn’t just a one-off for PR purposes and the government will continue to raid all of the offending shopping centers until Jakarta’s malls are smoke-free.
And if you see smoking taking place in a mall, be a good Jakartan and report it on Qlue. Your tip may just ensure the offenders get a visit from the police.
