Boys Aged SEVEN Smoke Up to 10 Cigarettes A Day

A CIGARETTE hangs expertly from the mouth of a seven-year-old boy. 

Dihan Awalidan, from West Java in Indonesia, has been addicted to cigarettes since the age of THREE.

He is just one of the handful of young boys in the small village of Cicapar who reject more traditional playtime pursuits in favour of a smoke.

Together with three of his friends, Nawan, 11, Jujun, 7 and Dede, 8, Dihan lights up approximately 16 times a day.

He buys his Kretek cigarettes with pocket money – or steals coins from his mother’s purse to fund the habit.

Both his parents smoke and Dihan is constantly bombarded by the abundance of advertising from tobacco companies in the region.

But despite his parents’ and teachers’ pleading, the young boy is unable to quit and often disappears to nearby paddy fields to enjoy his habit.

His father Iyan, 36, said: “Dihan has been smoking since the age of three. At that time he could smoke three packs of cigarettes. 

"If he was not given cigarette money he would get angry or steal cigarettes.”

Now Dihan has cut down – but refuses to quit entirely.

Despite the graphic health warnings displayed prominently on the packages, the young boys believe the images to be fake.

But Dihan’s lips have already begun to turn black from the amount of tar he inhales into his young lungs.

His 32-year-old mother, Tati, is also desperate for her young son to stop smoking before he causes long-term damage to his health.

She said: “If Dihan doesn’t smoke he cries. Now he smokes secretly, not openly as he used to. He smokes in the fields near the house.”

Shockingly, Dihan and his friends’ dangerous past-time is a growing trend in the southeast Asian nation.

Indonesia is one of the tobacco industry’s key playgrounds, according to Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

It is the fifth largest tobacco market in the world and one third of young people have tried a cigarette before the age of 10.

Matt said: “What we have in Indonesia is a perfect storm. 

"It is a government that is failing to protect to its children, an industry that is marketing its products like it was sixty years ago.

“Indonesia has more young people smoking under the age of 10 than any other country that has been identified.

“If you drive around Indonesia you are saturated with tobacco images. Smoking is not just an easy habit to pick up there, it's the cultural norm, fostered by the kind of advertising we haven’t seen in the West in 50 years.

“It is a failure of government and it is a failure of industry.”

More than 61 million people in Indonesia smoke and two thirds of the male population are hooked on the habit.