Rukki assessed that officials in Indonesia are still normalizing strategic meetings with tobacco industry players.
14 October 2025
By Sultan Abdurrahman – Tempo
Public policy advocacy ORGANIZATION, Ruang Kebijakan Kesehatan Indonesia or Rukki, hopes that the government will limit the involvement of the tobacco industry in policy making. The latest Tobacco Interference Index (TII) report or the latest Tobacco Industry Disruption Index from Rukki assesses that currently the cigarette industry still plays a big role in the formation of policies in the country.
According to Secretary Rukki as well as one of the compilers of the TII 2025 report, Mohammad Ainul Maruf, officials in Indonesia are still normalizing strategic meetings with tobacco industry players. Maruf assessed that the interaction gave legitimacy to the sale of tobacco products that should be restricted.
It is better, he said, the interaction space should be narrowed. Even if the government is forced to meet with parties that represent the interests of the tobacco industry, Maruf said they need to give an open report. “The principle of transparency must be applied,” said Maruf in the launch event of TII 2025 Rukki in Setiabudi, South Jakarta on Tuesday, October 14, 2025.
In the TII 2025 report, Rukki gave a score of 82 out of 100 against the intervention of the cigarette industry in Indonesia. A score close to 100 shows the high role of the industry in policy determination.
The value giving is based on a questionnaire developed by the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA). The questionnaire contains 20 questions about the influence of the tobacco industry in policy making. Rukki collects data through various public domains to official government correspondence to fill out the questionnaire.
One of the indicators that makes Indonesia’s TII 2025 score high is the various government interactions with business people. Rukki judged that many of these interactions were actually unnecessary.
“Various officials in Indonesia, from ministers to heads of services, are involved in interactions that benefit the tobacco industry, including visits to cigarette factories, inauguration of production facilities, and support for export and development of tobacco industry businesses,” as written in the TII 2025 report from Rukki.
According to Maruf, the current Indonesian government does not have a mechanism that requires open disclosure of interactions with the tobacco industry. In addition, Rukki also highlighted the absence of registration obligations for entities, organizations, or individuals who represent the tobacco industry so that their activities can be monitored by the community.
Tempo is trying to ask for a response from the tobacco industry regarding Rukki’s report. The Chairman of the Joint Association of Indonesian Cigarette Factories (Gappri) Henry Najoan and the Chairman of the Indonesian White Cigarette Producers Association (Gaprindo) Benny Wahyudi have not responded to the questions sent by Tempo through the messaging application.