Indonesia’s most famous toddler — Ardi Rizal — has apparently kicked his two pack-a-day smoking habit.
The 2-year-old has officially recovered from his addiction after a month-long rehabilitation program involving the National Commission for Child Protection, psychologists and doctors, according to a story in the Jakarta Globe, which quotes the commission’s advisory chairman Seto Mulyadi.
Ardi, who lives in the South Sumatran fishing village of Musi Banyuasin, shocked the world when a video of him smoking was posted on the Internet earlier this year.
The video quickly went viral and brought worldwide attention to Ardi and his family, and the ongoing problem of smoking in Indonesia where one-third of the population is said to smoke.
The CEO of the National Committee of Child Protection, Arist Merdeka Sirait, said that previously the youngest smokers they had found were between 5 and 9 years old. The committee has said the government must take responsible measures and protect children from the dangers of smoking.
Ardi was handed over to authorities in his home province of South Sumatra. He spent a month in rehab where he underwent a battery of tests, including a chest X-ray and ultrasound. According to CBS News, the results showed a thickening on the left wall of his heart. But it turns out that’s not from the smoking but from the fact that he’s obese.
While in rehab Ardi received “psychosocial therapy” during which therapists kept him busy with activities and encouraged him to play with kids his own age.
“We diverted his addiction from cigarettes to playing,” Sirait said.
Earlier media reports said Ardi’s parents claimed he threw tantrums and hit his head on the wall if he wasn’t allowed to smoke. His father is said to have given him his first cigarette when he was just 18 months old.
Anti-smoking advocates claim his case illustrates the tobacco industry’s push to get women and children in the developing world to smoke.
According to a story in the online Telegraph, data from the Central Statistics Agency in Indonesia shows one in four children aged 3 to 15 have tried cigarettes, with 3.2 per cent of them active smokers.
Ardi is now on his way home to his small fishing village where local government will remain responsible for his care.
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