The Indonesian toddler whose two-pack-a-day smoking habit sparked outrage across the globe is having a hard time kicking the cancer sticks.
A month after his story lit up newscasts, a camera crew caught up with 2-year-old Aldi Suganda outside his home in Sumatra still puffing away.
"If he can really quit smoking, he will definitely be a very healthy boy, without any disease. But now, I don't know of what will happen in the future," the boy’s mother, Diana, told CBS News.
The network says it spent two days with the boy and his family in the fishing village of Musi Bbanyuasin.
Footage of the boy shows bopping around town in an undershirt and shorts while sucking on cigarettes and puffing out smoke rings like a seasoned pro.
The tot’s parents say he started smoking when he was 11 months old during their trips to a market where the family sells fish.
Aldi didn’t like spending time at the family business, so his parents let him play by himself. One day, they found him smoking at a cigarette stand.
"He already knew how to do it very well, like an adult," Diana said. "It was actually his own wish."
At least 31% of Indonesian kids have smoked a cigarette before the age of 10, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids president Matthew Myers said. He blames the Indonesian government.
They have "completely failed to educate its public," he said, adding the tobacco industry can market its products without much regulation.
For now, Aldi’s trying his hand at rehab. His parents say he’s enrolled in a government-run program to help him stop smoking.
But quitting won’t be easy.
His mother said he throws tantrums and gets sick when he doesn’t get his nicotine fix.
"We surely hope he will quit, that he will be like any other kid, not smoking," Diana said.
"I can't stand seeing him hurting himself. What can we do but to accept it is as it is?"
