Syed Saddiq Shares 3 Suggestions On How To Refine The GEG Smoking Act
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s plan to establish a ‘generation endgame’ smoking ban, namely announcing legislative measures to forbid citizens born after 2005 from purchasing smoking products, has been met with bouts of criticism and uncertainty from the beginning.
Most recently, in a CodeBlue poll conducted since last Monday with 40 MPs from the Opposition and the government backbench in the 220-member Dewan Rakyat, only 12 legislators, or 30% of people polled, said they would vote for the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill.
Some MPs opposed the tobacco bill in its present form, citing issues with policing, illegal trade, the influence on Malaysia’s local vape industry, and individual liberties for the next generation, who would be unable to buy cigarettes or vapes even when they reached midlife.
Khairy then proposed deferring the tobacco ban to those born after 2007 instead,…
