Child smoking in Indonesia is a major concern, with up to 30% of the country’s 80 million children taking up the habit by age 10. 63% of Indonesia’s adult men smoke – the highest male smoking rate in the world – and in 2008 over 165 billion cigarettes were sold in the country.
As for Also Rizal it all started as a means to calm him down when he cried frantically. His parents “bribed” him by giving him a stick of cigarette and gradually the infant picked up the habit of smoking from his environment. Before long,he began to smoke as much as 40 sticks of cigarettes per day and that was that.
“He would bang his head on the wall if he couldn’t get what he wanted. That’s why I get him cigarettes in the first place – because of his temper and his crying’ said his mother Diane Rizal.
The outcry led to the Indonesian government launching a campaign to tackle the problem of children smoking and organising special rehabilitation treatment to help Aldi quit.
Aldi was taken for play therapy sessions in the capital Jakarta for two weeks to take his mind off his 40-a-day habit and learn to be a normal toddler for the first time.
A new documentary series revisits the family two years on to find out how Aldi is getting on and reveals he has managed to stay off the cigarettes, but is still dangerously unhealthy if he isn’t properly guided.
Say what…