You may not know it, but while the world is busy paying attention to the big names in the vape industry like the US, China or Australia, in a far corner of the map, the vape industry in Indonesia is also starting to develop rapidly.
The reality of smoking in Indonesia before legalizing e-cigarettes
In 2023, Indonesia officially legalized the sale and production of e-cigarettes after taking cues from the policies of other countries, notably the UK and its neighbor the Philippines. Indonesia’s new laws also emphasize making “e-cigarettes available to those who need them most – those who are quitting traditional cigarettes.”
To explain this sudden change, we need to look at the smoking situation of the people of this archipelago. According to 2019 data, Indonesians spend up to 1.3% of GDP, or about 11.3 billion USD (nearly 30 trillion VND) on cigarettes, a huge number! This country also has up to 37.3% of the population addicted to cigarettes and most of them start smoking at a very young age. Children in less developed areas of Indonesia start smoking at around 13-15 years old and often maintain that harmful habit into adulthood.
Traditional cigarettes: Known to be harmful but cannot be banned
Do you remember the video clip of a group of rural boys around 7-8 years old, innocently smoking cigarettes in front of their house that went viral on Facebook? The origin of that clip is from Indonesia and it is not rare to see in real life. Cigarettes have become an indispensable part of the lives of the people of the archipelago country, this toxic industry brings huge profits as well as creates jobs for hundreds of thousands of Indonesian workers. That is why, although the Indonesian government clearly recognizes the harmful effects of cigarettes, they still have to make concessions and cannot completely ban this thing.
Vape - a seemingly old but new solution
Since the dawn of vaping, its first and foremost mission has been to help people quit smoking. However, it’s only been the past few years since a central government recognized the benefits of vaping and actually supported it.
Before the legalization of vaping, Indonesia suffered more than 300,000 deaths a year from tobacco-related diseases, putting a huge strain on the East Asian nation’s already fragile health system. Over the years, the Indonesian government has tried many ways to ease this burden, such as raising taxes, imposing age limits, and severely restricting tobacco advertising, but to no avail.
Indonesia soon realized that bans and restrictions did not make people smoke less. No matter how hard to get cigarettes or how expensive they were, smokers would still buy them, if only with a slightly more annoyed and irritated mindset. The only way to change people’s perceptions was to, if not make them believe that cigarettes are harmful, at least let them know that there is still vaping out there – something that is better, cheaper, and most importantly, 95% less toxic than cigarettes.
Good news
In the year of vaping legalization, the country’s tobacco-related death rate dropped by 10%, and the smoking rate dropped from 38% to 33.5% (2022 > 2023). This further strengthens the belief that vaping is the right way to improve Indonesia’s alarming smoking situation.
It has been proven that legalizing vapes and related products has a positive impact on low- and middle-income people - those who are under a lot of pressure from work, family, society and need nicotine to reduce stress. The evidence is that in just 2 years, the rate of men aged 15 and over using vapes and heated tobacco products has increased from 0.3% to 5%. Many studies have also shown that using vapes helps smokers save up to 17% of their life expectancy. In addition, for every 1% of income not used to buy cigarettes, the poverty rate will decrease by 6%.
More benefits than harm
In all fairness, Indonesia’s willingness to legalize cannot be a matter of “just doing it” on a whim. It is the result of years of research and weighing the pros and cons to reach the final decision, and fortunately, that decision is gradually being proven correct in practice.
There are six arguments in favor of legalizing e-cigarettes, specifically as follows:
Firstly, vaping is safer but still gives the same experience of inhaling and exhaling “smoke” as cigarettes, so smokers can switch quickly and easily. Indonesians smoke cigarettes just like Vietnamese people like tobacco and pipes, partly because of nicotine but mostly because they are attached to culture as well as daily social interactions, so it is very difficult to quit. It can be said that “smoke” is the catalyst for all daily stories in Indonesia and that is why when vaping appeared, it almost did not cause any discomfort or criticism from the people.
Second, legalizing e-cigarettes would significantly reduce the size of the black market. This would also mean saving on annual budgets spent on controlling devices and e-juices smuggled from abroad.
Third, and most importantly: allowing authorities to control the quality and origin of e-cigarette products put on the market.
Fourth, the vaping industry in Indonesia continues to provide a significant amount of revenue to the national budget through separate taxation of devices and e-liquids. The Indonesian government has also emphasized that the taxes imposed on vapes will not be identical to those on cigarettes, but instead vapes will only be subject to a tax rate “proportional to the level of health risk.”
Fifth, legalizing vaping opens up opportunities to develop a strong retail and export market, ready to compete with “giants” like China or Malaysia. In the current chaotic context, a new and dynamic playground like Indonesia will possess huge export potential. Above all, if the vaping industry truly develops healthily, it will bring jobs to tens of thousands of workers in this country.
Finally, legalizing vaping would help spur domestic research and development efforts to produce more affordable vaporizers that are more accessible to those who want to use them. This is important, as the majority of smokers in Indonesia come from low-income groups, so convincing them to switch to vaping requires that the vaping product be “budget-friendly” in the first place.
Stay safe, vape on!
