Indonesia: Inter-tabac Asia cancelled

Following sustained international pressure and a Change.org petition that gathered over 12 000 signatures, the tobacco trade fair Inter-tabac Asia 2014 was cancelled just days before it was due to be held in Bali on 27 and 28 February.

The trade fair had been billed as an opportunity to access the “booming growth market of Asia for companies in the tobacco industry and expand recognition in Asia’s growing markets.” In an announcement on the event website, the German organiser Messe Westfalenhallen Dortmund GmbH, a wholly owned company of the city of Dortmund, Germany, advised that they had been instructed by the Bali police that the event could not go ahead.

The governor of Bali, Made Mangku Pastika, withdrew permission for the fair after speaking out against it, saying it violated a Bali regulation banning smoking in certain areas. His stance against the trade exhibition was recognised by the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) in an award conferred on 4 March, “for leadership and courage in putting health before profits and promoting strong tobacco control measures”. Bali's rejection of the fair had been preceded by a refusal to host the World Tobacco Asia conference, which had been planned for September 2014.

Governor Pastika's actions to protect public health in Bali, taken in response to the concerns expressed to him by Indonesians and the global community, were in stark contrast to the mayor of Dortmund Ullrich Sierau, who faced condemnation from German and international health advocates for his city's role in organising Inter-tabac. On 3 February, Mr Sierau refused to accept the Change.org petition which activists Yosef Rabindanata Nugraha of Indonesia Bebas Rokok (Smoke Free Indonesia) and Max Vollmer of the German …