The FCTC seeks to regulate the industry or at least keep its activities in check with tight controls on tobacco products. The industry fights back in countries where it can still exert its influence.
Such interference can be done indirectly with the help of pro-tobacco industry government officials. In Indonesia a letter dated 2 January 2004 was sent by the Head of District Parliament of Temanggung to then President Megawati Sukarnoputri on behalf of the Chairman of District Parliament and Indonesian Farmers Associations to appeal to the President not to sign the FCTC.
Following in 2005, when the Vice-Chairman of Indonesian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (IFPPD) in his capacity as Chairman of the Tobacco Farmer Association in a seminar on Employment Opportunity vs Health said, “Indonesia should not ratify FCTC at the moment”. Till today due to the strong lobby from the tobacco industry, Indonesia remains the only non-party to the FCTC in the ASEAN region.