A recent survey by Universitas Indonesia surprisingly showed that 72% of Indonesian smokers would quit smoking if the price of cigarettes were raised to at least Rp 50,000 per pack. While the government has not explicitly approved the idea of raising tax on tobacco for the benefit of public health, the House of Parliament and the Indonesian Consumer Foundation (YLKI) both agreed that more expensive cigarettes would be the way forward for the nation.
It seems that Indonesian smokers are resigned to that eventuality. Instead of getting scared at the prospect of having to quit cold turkey should cigarette prices skyrocket, a bunch of netizens today popularized the hashtag #KamiTidakPanik (#We’reNotPanicking), declaring through memes (of course) that there are still many alternatives to cigarettes.
“Cigarettes cost Rp 50 thousand? #We’reNotPanicking. [Marijuana] costs around the same, different taste, but bonus happy giggles.”
“#We’reNotPanicking because we don’t smoke factory-made cigarettes.”
“#We’reNotPanicking just by cigarettes by piece, it would probably cost Rp 5,000 per cigarette.”
Of course, one of the arguments the government gave against hiking cigarette prices is that it would create a black market for unregulated homemade cigarettes and other illegal substances – factors that some of the #KamiTidakPanik memes alluded to.
Well, whatever the government eventually decides to do with the price of cigarettes, we hope that everybody will remain as calm as these good-humored netizens. It would be ironic if there were deadly riots over the price of something that kills.
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