KUALA LUMPUR: Advokasi Perusahaan dan Industri (API) urged the government to take emergency action to tackle systemic illegal cigarettes problem that has curtailed economic growth and caused significant socioeconomic problems for more than a decade.
API managing director Datuk Fazli Nordin said this in response to the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) and Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) Malaysia 2023, which were released by the government recently.
“According to the NHMS, Malaysian adult smoking prevalence has plateaued over the past three decades, with 24.8 per cent in 1996, 21.5 per cent in 2006, 23.1 per cent in 2011, 22.8 per cent in 2015 and 21.3 per cent in 2019.
“Nevertheless, while the number of smokers remained nearly the same, the GATS Malaysia had indicated that the average amount Malaysian consumers spent on cigarettes had significantly decreased from RM13.20 in 2011 to RM10.80 in 2023. The average monthly cigarette expenditure decreased from RM234 in 2011 to RM177.70 in 2023,” he said.
He added that while the reduction of cigarette expenditure looks good on paper, it is important to note that the reality is far from it.
“Both GATS and NHMS clearly show that illegal cigarettes are rampant and well accepted.
“Malaysians are not smoking less but are, in fact, buying cigarettes at a cheaper price. Illegal cigarettes are well received by Malaysians because it is much cheaper and widely available compared to legally manufactured cigarettes,” he added.
On another note, he said that illegal cigarette prevalence in Malaysia was 55.6 per cent in 2023, which means out of six of 10 cigarettes sold is illegal, and the rate is considered extremely high based on global standard.
“At this rate, the illegal cigarettes trade alone has caused the government to lose about RM5bil every year in uncollected excise revenue.
“At the same time, this sizeable shadow economy continues to facilitate corruption at all levels of society and fund criminal activities.”
Despite there has been an uptick in busts and arrests made particularly by the Royal Malaysian Customs and other authorities, he felt the enforcement alone is not enough to curtail the problem.
“The government must be bold enough to think out of the box and put in place more drastic or emergency measures to achieve what other government have not done, which is to get rid of illegal cigarettes scourge once and for all.”
