Indonesia: a Country with the Highest Number of Children Smokers - Essay Example

Indonesia: A Country with the Highest Number of Children Smokers Name: Instructor’s Name: Course: Date: Indonesia: A Country with the Highest Number of Children Smokers It is really sad to see a young individual lose his or her life to tobacco. Growing up in Indonesia, a nation where smoking is the order of the day, I truly never understood the effects of cigarettes until the age of ten when my grandmother died of a heart disease. Smoking is a usual and common activity in Indonesia. The nation is among the top five countries that lead with larger populations of smokers. Smokers account for thirty four percent (34%) of the total population. This habit has gone further to influence young children; mostly under the age of ten. Various organizations have shown concern in the issue of the rising rate of smoking among the juveniles. For instance, KPAI, a body set up to prevent Indonesian children from addiction to smoking reports that manufacturers of nicotine substances intentionally target children. They achieve this through numerous advertisements in televisions and public sponsorships on a number of activities that involve teenagers. Approximately eighty million children’s future is at stake because of this. Slightly above thirty percent (30%) of the children population in Indonesia engage in smoking before the age of eleven. A case to remember in the history of this nation is of a two year old kid from Sumatra who made global news for smoking forty cigarettes a day. Indonesia is home to many cigarette manufacturing companies. Kretek is one of the cheapest cigarette brands in the country produced in more than twenty five companies. Most of the employees in the Kretek industry are young children. So far, smoking of nicotine in Indonesia claims over three hundred thousand lives yearly despite the fact that the country’s effort to reduce its consumption; through educational institutes and healthcare units. However, there is no total ban on cigarettes smoking in both the government and public areas. Juvenile smokers in Indonesia are lured into the act by a number of aspects. To start with, cigarettes have been exempted from taxation. In addition, the country provides incentives to manufacturers in order to enable them advertise and sale cigarettes for free. Even though most adverts warn people against the use of cigarettes together with their effects, they never present any text or pictures that warn civilians on the possible effects of smoking. To add on that the low cost of cigarettes encourages younger children to smoke. For instance, a two year old kid is reported to have been smoking at least two packs of cigarettes in a single day. The child was introduced into smoking by his father at the age of eighteen months. Various effects of smoking cigarettes are ever aired through media. A common ad in most of Indonesia televisions is of a young lady who is breathing and talking through a hole on her throat. Moreover, some ads show how children are being convinced into smoking by their peers. Looking back at twenty years ago, such ads were never aired since the effects of cigarettes were not as prevalent as nowadays. The prevailing truth with smoking is that any single puff of smoke into a human’s lung decreases or rather shortens their lifetime. Even though I do not smoke, I have experienced what smoking has done, not only to those who smoke, but the people they are close to as well. Smoking, in our family, started with my grandparents. The parents to my dad have been smoking since his childhood, or say since he was born. Thus, smoking was never an unusual sight to him. Furthermore, my dad as a little boy was never aware of the effects of smoking to human health; mentally, emotionally and physically. Nicotine being the sole drug in cigarettes is said to be the most addictive drug. This implies that both grandparents of mine were addicted and my dad followed suit. It is now five years since my grandma died of a heart attack that resulted from smoking. The old woman never had an opportunity to undergo any surgery or rather any form of assistance that could enable her live longer. Her death hit my dad so hard that he immediately began to try and quit smoking. He attempted this severally to no avail since his entire life was full of cigarettes. On the other hand, I could not figure out why it was so difficult for him to stop smoking. Before all these, I watched my grandpa struggle to quit smoking and fortunately he managed. To me, I lived with an assumption that it is easy to stop or rather quit anything that is harmful to both our health and to those people who are close to us. Various aspects in the future lives of young individuals are being determined by their current actions. Children in Indonesia find it difficult to quit smoking. Just like older people, the effects of cigarette smoking are similar and apply to everyone who engages in the act. Pulmonary diseases, heart diseases and cancer are top complications that are reported to be affecting the Indonesian population. Juveniles and young adults in Indonesia begin smoking or rather using tobacco products because of psychological reasons. These young individuals have not had the necessary experience in life to understand their simultaneous attempt at conformity; what they know is that they want to control their lives through the use of tobacco. Moreover, unlike older tobacco users in Indonesia, these children have the feeling of invulnerability. They tend to imagine that by the moment smoking will be a real threat to their bodies and health; they will have stopped using it already. Most adverts by tobacco firms in the country seem to fully reflect on the manipulation and understanding of the key reasons. According to the recent statistics performed in the region, it is quite obvious that there is a strong relationship between the increasing numbers of children smokers and advertisements by tobacco companies. For instance, when the cigarettes promotion increased in the year 1997, the country had a significant increase in the general number of teens smoking; below the age of fifteen. However, advertisements are not the sole cause for young people engaging in smoking. There are other factors that are at least crucial in this context and difficult to deal with. Whenever children start feeling the need to fully invent a distinct personality in the society, they tend to borrow from the adults or rather older individuals they deem as role models. These individuals might be their parents, friends and other prominent people in the society. When juveniles see their parents, brothers, sisters and other people in the society smoke, they associates cigarettes with the positive aspects of the society. Though my individual observation may surprise an average of children smokers in Indonesia, it is not a surprise to the teens that smoking of cigarettes is harmful to human welfare and general health. They overhear it every day and yet they still smoke additional packets of cigarettes despite the fact that they are considered the most intelligent in the society. Are you still hooked to tobacco? Why is it that young people in Indonesia never intend to continue smoking but they seem to stick to several packets of cigarettes a day? Tobacco products are very effective nicotine devices; a chemical that have been proven to be a pleasant and useful stimulator in human bodies. It tends to stimulates body hormones which simultaneously relax the body. Nicotine is a chemical that is responsible for euphoria being experienced by smokers and it is believed to have a calming effect. Greater percentages of patients who are suffering in Indonesian hospitals from cancer and heart diseases are said to have begun smoking when they were below the age of ten. I vividly recall visiting a friend in one of the hospitals in Sumatra where I met hundreds of cancer patients in a ward. To me, this was quite shocking since most of were above the age of forty but looking at them one could imagine they are over sixty years old. In the same ward, one patient caught my attention. The eleven year old kid was groaning in pain, his eyes seemed to beg for assistance from anyone who passed by. But what kind of help can anyone offer to somebody who has hours left before death steals him away? A tear rolled down my left cheek as I moved close to the bed in which the boy was sleeping. It is like the child was abandoned at the hospital because there were no signs of any relation of his in the ward. I held the kid’s hand and whispered to him “All will be well soon.” This incident made me to flash back at those days when my grandma was ailing from heart disease. All she could say was “My grandchild, never attempt to follow the path which led me to where I am right now.” Her death left several changes in our family. Everyone who was smoking attempted to quit the act. Some managed to quit, some are still trying whereas the rest have given up with the quest. The spread of tobacco product across the nation in all the age groups is because of ignorance from the authorities. The government alongside the health departments is striving hard to curb juvenile smoking but they do not have the appropriate strategies in place. Imagine of young boys and girls smoking in the streets where everyone who passes clearly sees them but no action is taken. In addition, parents are initiating their children into smoking day after day. A two year old kid is reported to be smoking at least two packets of cigarettes daily and no action is taken against the parents who introduced him to smoking. Actually, tobacco is claiming lives daily across Indonesia. My plea goes to the government or rather the authorities that have the power to regulate consumption of this harmful substance. Introducing a total ban to smoking before the age of eighteen would greatly assist to reduce the many deaths caused by tobacco. Furthermore, smoking in public places should be prohibited since it influences young people to start smoking. This can work best if all the ads about tobacco on social media, televisions and newspapers are banned completely. Lastly, the government should impose heavy taxation on tobacco substances and companies that produces them. Reflection For this paper, I had the opportunity to draft an article that fully makes use of my personal experiences combined with facts so as to present an interesting article. I opted to write about juvenile smokers in Indonesia, my motherland. I chose this country because I was raised up here and since my childhood, I have experienced a lot in terms of cigarettes and cigarettes smokers. To me, smoking is a culture to Indonesians. People start smoking from the age of two years. I have seen many individuals suffer from the crude effects of tobacco. I lost my dear ones; I have lost my friends and family through this dangerous act of smoking. Cigarettes are spread all over the nation, from the rural areas to urban areas, and across all the age groups. The future of children smokers is at stake because of the adverse effects that come with nicotine chemical inside tobacco products. The information that comes out through this article is my own experience; personal encounters alongside a number of facts from the local health organizations and bodies that show concern about juvenile smoking. A part from that, I have extensively read about other people’s articles and experiences with cigarettes and cigarettes smokers in blogs, journals and newspapers. The language and writing technique used in this piece of writing is based on various study guides that stresses on the relevant journalistic language alongside personal encounters and a blend of facts in the society. I wrote this article with various intentions. Firstly, my aim was to capture the reader’s attention and secondly, to express my concern about the effects of tobacco smoking on young smokers or rather children. Read More

Nicotine being the sole drug in cigarettes is said to be the most addictive drug. This implies that both grandparents of mine were addicted and my dad followed suit. It is now five years since my grandma died of a heart attack that resulted from smoking. The old woman never had an opportunity to undergo any surgery or rather any form of assistance that could enable her live longer. Her death hit my dad so hard that he immediately began to try and quit smoking. He attempted this severally to no avail since his entire life was full of cigarettes.

On the other hand, I could not figure out why it was so difficult for him to stop smoking. Before all these, I watched my grandpa struggle to quit smoking and fortunately he managed. To me, I lived with an assumption that it is easy to stop or rather quit anything that is harmful to both our health and to those people who are close to us. Various aspects in the future lives of young individuals are being determined by their current actions. Children in Indonesia find it difficult to quit smoking.

Just like older people, the effects of cigarette smoking are similar and apply to everyone who engages in the act. Pulmonary diseases, heart diseases and cancer are top complications that are reported to be affecting the Indonesian population. Juveniles and young adults in Indonesia begin smoking or rather using tobacco products because of psychological reasons. These young individuals have not had the necessary experience in life to understand their simultaneous attempt at conformity; what they know is that they want to control their lives through the use of tobacco.

Moreover, unlike older tobacco users in Indonesia, these children have the feeling of invulnerability. They tend to imagine that by the moment smoking will be a real threat to their bodies and health; they will have stopped using it already. Most adverts by tobacco firms in the country seem to fully reflect on the manipulation and understanding of the key reasons. According to the recent statistics performed in the region, it is quite obvious that there is a strong relationship between the increasing numbers of children smokers and advertisements by tobacco companies.

For instance, when the cigarettes promotion increased in the year 1997, the country had a significant increase in the general number of teens smoking; below the age of fifteen. However, advertisements are not the sole cause for young people engaging in smoking. There are other factors that are at least crucial in this context and difficult to deal with. Whenever children start feeling the need to fully invent a distinct personality in the society, they tend to borrow from the adults or rather older individuals they deem as role models.

These individuals might be their parents, friends and other prominent people in the society. When juveniles see their parents, brothers, sisters and other people in the society smoke, they associates cigarettes with the positive aspects of the society. Though my individual observation may surprise an average of children smokers in Indonesia, it is not a surprise to the teens that smoking of cigarettes is harmful to human welfare and general health. They overhear it every day and yet they still smoke additional packets of cigarettes despite the fact that they are considered the most intelligent in the society.

Are you still hooked to tobacco? Why is it that young people in Indonesia never intend to continue smoking but they seem to stick to several packets of cigarettes a day? Tobacco products are very effective nicotine devices; a chemical that have been proven to be a pleasant and useful stimulator in human bodies. It tends to stimulates body hormones which simultaneously relax the body. Nicotine is a chemical that is responsible for euphoria being experienced by smokers and it is believed to have a calming effect.

Greater percentages of patients who are suffering in Indonesian hospitals from cancer and heart diseases are said to have begun smoking when they were below the age of ten.

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