Restaurant owners in Malaysia want to be able to reserve a few tables for customers who smoke, while anti-smoking groups want more-aggressive anti-tobacco measures in the wake of the Health Ministry’s announcement that it intends to gazette all open-air restaurants as no-smoking areas from December, according to a story by Loh Foon Fong for The Star.
The Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Owners Association president Ayoob Khan Muhamad Yakub, said smoking was bad, but, he added, restaurant owners could not chase away customers who wanted to smoke.
“The government should allow restaurant owners to have a few tables allocated for smokers, away from the other tables,” he said.
Ayoob hoped the ministry would consult municipal councils and the public on how the new regulations could be implemented.
Meanwhile, the National Cancer Society of Malaysia’s PR and communications assistant manager Mandy Thoo said 80 percent of Malaysians were non-smokers.
“Our cancer awareness programs and support activities for cancer patients and survivors reveal that many people have had enough of being exposed to second-hand smoke in public areas,” she said.
The society urged the government to adopt and implement a Tobacco Control Act.
Meanwhile, the secretary-general of the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations’ (FOMCA) Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control (MCTC), Muhammad Sha’ani Abdullah, said the National Strategic Plan on Tobacco Control listed non-air-conditioned restaurants as the next target to be made non-smoking areas this year.
FOMCA urged the government to be more aggressive in promoting tobacco control measures because, it said, the country had not made much progress during the past 30 years, during which time smoking prevalence had been hovering between 21 percent and 23 percent.
Tag: Malaysia
Let's be reasonable
No room for smoking
In three months’ time, smokers will not be able to light up when dining al fresco at restaurants Malaysia-wide, according to a story at The Coverage quoting other media outlets.
The Health Ministry has reportedly said that all open-air restaurants will be gazetted as non-smoking areas from December.
The Health Ministry has reportedly said that all open-air restaurants will be gazetted as non-smoking areas from December.
“This gazettement is Malaysia’s commitment as a member state to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and adheres to the guidelines under Article 8 of the World Health Organization,” the deputy health minister Dr. Lee Boon Chye was quoted as saying.
“It is also one of the ministry’s initiatives to protect the public from the dangers of cigarette smoke.”
Those found to have broken the law on smoking could be fined RM10,000 or sent to jail for up to two years.
Lee was reported to have proposed also closing the parliament’s smoking-room next month in a bid to turn the entire law-making house into a smoke-free zone.
He said there were currently 23 areas designated smoke-free under the Control of Tobacco Product (Amendment) Regulations 2017.These included entertainment centers, theaters, elevators, public toilets, air-conditioned eateries, public vehicles, airports, government premises and any area used for assembly.A rational approach
Malaysia’s Minister of Health, Dzulkefly Ahmad, has been asked whether he has been reading the evidence about electronic cigarettes coming out of the UK.
This question was raised in an opinion piece in the Malay Mail by Sarah Zailana Hamid, who made the point that while nobody was saying that e-cigarettes were absolutely safe, what was being said was that they were less harmful than were combustible cigarettes.
She said she hoped that Malaysia would move towards a similar stance as that recommended in a report published on Friday by the UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee.
Such a stance would allow for the usage of e-cigarettes while conducting annual reviews to determine the long-term effects with a publicly funded health committee providing oversight.
‘Because if our government insists on waiting until those long-term effects are visible, we will be looking at no alternative to smoking and thus, letting the Malaysian smoking population continue to miss the opportunity for a less harmful choice,’ she said.
‘The report also pointed out the stigma over vaping, and how the second-hand vapor had “negligible health risks”. Thus, the media should bear some responsibility for demonising the vaping community in the past which led to the overreaction from our authorities and the general public.
‘Truth be told, there is a need for an independent study of Malaysians on e-cigarettes and such devices, a monitoring of their long-term health effects, while the government allows these products to be promoted as an alternative to traditional cigarettes for people trying to quit smoking.
‘I do hope that Dzulkefly manages to push through such a change so that we can truly move forward towards a healthier Malaysia with the principle of harm reduction rather than an outright ban.’Price decrease denied
Malaysia’s Health Ministry has decided to maintain the price of cigarettes following the abolishing of the goods and services tax (GST) today, June 1, according to a story in The Star quoting the Health Minister, Dr. Dzulkefly Ahmad.
“There will not be any decrease in price,” he said.
“That is our commitment to ensure that the prohibitive price is going to be one of the ways to prevent the use of cigarettes.”
Asked if other ministries had given their support to his ministry, Dzulkefly said he didn’t think this would be a problem. “We are almost on the same page on that one,” he said. “I can vouch on that.”
Currently, the prices of 20-piece packs of cigarettes range from RM12 to RM17, the Star reported. ‘With the zero-rated GST, the price of things will drop, including cigarettes, until the implementation of sales and services tax (SST),’ it said.
This was a huge window of opportunity for new smokers to pick up the habit, for current smokers to stock up, and for ex-smokers to fall off the wagon, a source familiar with the issue was quoted as saying.
To maintain the price of cigarettes, there was a need to increase excise tax, of which Malaysia was way below the minimum level recommended by the World Health Organization.Reduced risk on hold
British American Tobacco (Malaysia) has said it will not introduce electronic cigarettes or other reduced-harm products in Malaysia until they are the subject of clear regulations, according to a story in The Edge Financial Daily.
“We are a bit concerned that if we do introduce these products, the regulatory framework would not be as sharp as they should be,” BAT Malaysia MD Erik Stoel told a media briefing after the group’s annual general meeting on April 19.
Guidelines were needed on the excise duties and marketing restrictions that would apply to such products.
“Fundamentally, we think that if we can sell potentially reduced-harm products to consumers in Malaysia then we should,” he said, adding that it was the “right” thing to do.
BAT had launched glo, a tobacco-heating device, in Japan in May last year, and had a “very good product portfolio” in Europe’s strong vaping market, Stoel said.
In 2015, several states in Malaysia banned the sale of e-cigarettes after the National Fatwa (religious edict) Council ruled that vaping was forbidden in Islam.
Introducing such reduced-harm products might be the lifeline needed by tobacco companies in Malaysia, which have seen their market size and subsequently their earnings, squeezed by the market for illegal cigarettes.Smokers shut out
The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) has criticized the growing tendency among employers to reject job applicants who are habitual smokers, according to a story in The Free Malaysia Today (FMT).
Employers should be concerned only with a person’s ability to work, MTUC secretary-general J Solomon was said to have told FMT.
“Smoking is not illegal, and companies cannot dictate the personal choices of employees,” he said.
The Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) director Shamsuddin Bardan agreed, saying such a hiring policy would be discriminatory unless the nature of the job required abstention from smoking.
“Unless non-smoking is critical to a business, such as a health or food business, then it is discrimination,” he said.
The FMT story said that a growing number of companies, especially in foreign countries, were adding ‘non-smoking’ as a job requirement, with dozens of Australian companies doing so.
And checks by FMT had found that several Malaysian companies had begun to follow suit.
Molly Cheah, president of the Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control, said she supported such a policy.
“More employers should consider this move,” she said. “If you’re an employer, you would want your employees to be healthy.”
But Solomon said smoking was only one of many factors employers needed to consider if they cared about their workers’ health.
“If you want to talk about employees’ health, you must look at it in totality,” he said. “Factors like work stress and the conduciveness of the working environment need to be looked into to see whether they are in line with international safety and health standards.”
However, he said it would be fair to set rules on smoking during working hours. “But make sure it applies across the board,” he said. “If employees aren’t allowed to smoke, then neither should the company’s CEO. Just like a dress code, the rule should apply to everyone.”Aiming for a healthy city
In Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) is aiming to reduce the prevalence of smoking in the city as part of its latest initiative to create a smoke-free environment, according to a story in The Star.
The initiative was launched on Wednesday as part of the Partnership For Healthy Cities, a global network of cities committed to reducing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and injuries.
According to studies conducted as part of the National Health Morbidity Survey 2015, the prevalence of smoking in Kuala Lumpur is about 19.1 percent.
The city’s newly launched initiative aims to reduce this number and help educate non-smokers on the risks associated with second-hand smoke.
The DBKL will, for instance, work with the Health Ministry, restaurant associations and other key organizations to boost enforcement of existing smoking restrictions.
And the DBKL will use billboards and LED signs to raise public awareness about the risks of smoking and second-hand smoke.
“The Partnership For Healthy Cities unites mayors who are committed to helping their citizens live healthier lives and to reduce NCDs and injuries,” said World Health Organization Global Ambassador for NCDs Michael R. Bloomberg.
“The actions these mayors take can prevent millions of needless deaths and protect the health of generations to come, while making their cities stronger and more prosperous.”
The Star report said the city would work with Bloomberg Philanthropies and implementing partner Vital Strategies to deploy proven solutions to save lives and improve the environments where people live, work and play.
The Partnership For Healthy Cities is an 18-month initiative that was announced in May 2017 where each city pledges to enact one of 10 proven policies identified by WHO as effective in protecting people from exposure to NCDs and injury-risk factors.
By taking part in this global initiative, Kuala Lumpur is said to have gained access to a global network of city leaders and public health experts working towards the same goals, along with a seed grant to jumpstart the local effort.Illicit cigarettes lead market
Malaysia’s Royal Customs Department last year seized illicit cigarettes on which RM1 billion in taxes should have been paid, according to a story in The Malaysian Reserve.
The Department was said last year to have intensified its operations aimed at curbing the increase in illicit tobacco products in the country.
But it has a struggle on its hands. The high retail price of licit cigarettes in Malaysia makes the country a haven for smugglers and some retailers who are able to reap huge profits as smokers seek cheaper alternatives.
The government increased cigarette taxes by 110 percent during the past five years so that whereas licit brands sell for about RM17 per pack, illicit products sell for RM4-5 per pack.
An additional problem for the Department is that Malaysia’s long coastline makes monitoring the entry of illicit cigarettes difficult.
Illicit cigarettes were said last year to have taken about 57 percent of Malaysia’s 18-billion market.
The Malaysian Reserve said it was estimated that the government had lost billions in tax revenue due to the mushrooming of illicit cigarettes.Better times ahead
Volume cigarette sales in Malaysia, which began to stabilize in the third quarter of 2017, are expected to be maintained at the start of 2018, barring any market shocks, according to a story in The Edge Financial Daily quoting analysts.
In part, this stability will be underpinned by a stronger economy that is said to be delivering increased disposable incomes.
The local cigarette industry has been hit hard in recent times by the illegal trade, which has been boosted by tax-driven retail price increases on licit products.
“We think demand should improve as disposable income improves alongside economic growth,” Vincent Khoo, UOB Kay Hian’s head of research for Malaysia, was said to have told the Daily by email. “While tobacco is arguably more of a [consumer] discretionary rather than a necessity, an improved economy should trickle down to better tobacco consumption, provided there is no hike in duties or prices.”
Khoo said he believed it was unlikely that the government would raise excise-duty rates because this would lead to a fall in the government’s revenue.
Based on the finance ministry’s third-quarter 2017 report on the Malaysian economy, indirect tax collection dropped 7.3 percent to RM14.6 billion, from RM15.7 billion during the third quarter of 2016 due to excise-duty collection being down 26.4 percent, largely because of a fall in the sale of locally manufactured cigarettes.Australia is guiding light
Malaysia is keen to learn and employ tobacco-control strategies employed by Australia, according to a story in The New Straits Times.
Speaking at the 69th session of the World Health Organization Regional Committee for the Western Pacific in Brisbane, Malaysia’s Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr. S. Subramaniam congratulated Australia for significantly reducing smoking among its citizens.
“The prevalence of smoking in Australia is only 11 per cent against Malaysia’s 23 per cent,” he said, while delivering a speech as the event’s outgoing chairperson.
“We are very excited to see how Australia has managed to achieve this remarkable figure.
“Close co-operation and exchange of views on the practices employed in the area of tobacco control will support other countries in the region to fight this major health issue.”
