Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) has urged the government to review its plan to ban electronic cigarettes and vaping, describing it as government overreach in people’s personal habits.
PSM chairman Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj agreed that vaping was bad for health, but said criminalising the habit would be the wrong way to discourage it.
He said the duty of governments was to ensure that people’s activities do not negatively affect others or the environment, which meant that banning vaping in places like eateries, or the sale of vapes to minors, would be fair.
“But a law that criminalises vaping, even in the privacy of one’s home or a designated vaping space, is gross overreach of governmental authority.
“Put bluntly, a person should have the right to engage in an activity even if it is bad for their health, as long as that activity does not adversely affect others.
“The…