He may only be eight years old but Indonesian Adi Ilham has grabbed the world’s attention with his 25-a-day smoking habit.
The youngster, from Sukabumi, has dropped out of school because they have stopped him from smoking and, according to his parents, he becomes violent when they try to make him quit.
“I have to let him smoke, otherwise he will get mad. He smashed the windows five times because I told him he could not smoke. He doesn’t go to school because he cannot smoke in school. Without school, we have to spend 20,000 rupiah (2 US dollars) for cigarettes each day,” said his mother Nenah.
Government statistics show that in Indonesia, cigarettes account for the second-largest household expenditure after food.
Nearly one in three people in the country of 239 million smoke, with no age restrictions on purchases.
Advertising for tobacco is allowed on television between 9pm and 5am. Cigarettes are advertised on billboards, and though they cannot be sold in school premises, tobacco companies are not banned from sponsoring scholarships, sports leagues and dance events.
—Source: itn.co.uk