Recently, the Indonesian government announced once again that it will postpone the implementation plan of the highly anticipated sugary beverage tax until 2025, which has sparked widespread attention and discussion from all sectors of society. Despite the growing call of the society to curb obesity and diabetes, the Indonesian government has to continue to postpone the implementation of this policy in the face of various challenges.

According to the Jakarta Post, Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani made it clear during a hearing with the 11th Congressional Committee on August 28 that the government will officially implement the sugary drink tax policy next year, 2025. She pointed out that this decision was aimed at matching the Ministry of Health's goal of reducing diabetes, especially diabetes among children. However, Sri Mulyani did not provide specific reasons for why he chose to postpone the implementation again.

Looking back, the Indonesian government's implementation of a sugar sweetened beverage tax has gone through many twists and turns. Since 2009, the Indonesian Ministry of Finance has been considering the idea of taxing sugary drinks, but progress has been slow due to strong resistance from business groups. The original plan was to include the tax on sugary drinks in the 2023 national budget, but due to legal discussions and considerations of the timing of economic recovery after the pandemic, the government ultimately decided to cancel the implementation plan for that year.

Subsequently, the Indonesian government announced the inclusion of a sugar sweetened beverage tax in the 2024 national budget and expects to collect approximately 1.8 trillion Indonesian rupiah (approximately 116 million US dollars) in revenue annually through this tax. However, this plan also failed to be implemented as scheduled and once again faced the fate of being postponed.

According to the 2023 Health Survey (SKI) data recently released by the Ministry of Health of Indonesia, the problem of diabetes in Indonesia is becoming increasingly serious. About 11.7% of Indonesia's 270 million people have diabetes, an increase of 3.2 percentage points from 8.5% in 2018. This data undoubtedly sounds the alarm for the government and further highlights the urgency of implementing a tax on sugary drinks.

Despite facing numerous difficulties, the Indonesian government has stated its unwavering commitment to promoting the implementation of a sugar sweetened beverage tax. The government believes that taxation can effectively raise the price of sugary drinks, thereby reducing people's consumption, so as to reduce the incidence rate of obesity and diabetes. At the same time, the government will continue to strengthen communication and consultation with business groups, seeking more understanding and support.