Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times.
— Mark Twain, American writer and humourist
The statistics of tobacco-related deaths worldwide are shocking. It could be said to be an unrecognised pandemic.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates 1.3 billion tobacco users worldwide. More than 8 million people each year are killed by tobacco use, and about 7 million of these deaths are attributed to direct tobacco.
Sadly, around another 1.2 million deaths each year are due to non-smokers being exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke.
An important point to note is that tobacco used in all its forms is considered harmful. There is no safe level of exposure to smoking.
In addition to this, WHO has stated that tobacco is a known or probable cause of about 25 diseases.
So how much do Malaysians contribute to these unfortunate statistics?
According to Malaysia’s 2020 report presented to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, one in five (21.3 percent) people aged 15 years old and older are smokers. This works out to an estimated 7 million Malaysian smokers.
It has also been reported that there are an estimated 27,200 smoking-related deaths in our country annually.
Is the Malaysian government doing anything about this ‘silent pandemic’?
Anti-smoking efforts started in 1976 when legislation required a general warning message on all cigarette packaging.
Then in the 1980s, a ban on smoking in public places was implemented. This was followed by a ban on selling cigarettes to persons under 18 since May 14, 1994.
Since January 1995, cigarette advertisements have been prohibited, and now advertising on the internet is also prohibited.
It also became an offence from June 1, 2010, to smoke in private office spaces. From January 1, 2019, the law made it illegal to smoke in all restaurants and eateries.
Besides killing people, smoking is also a significant economic burden to the nation and smokers’ families. It consumes substantial government health expenditure and reduces our nation’s productivity as workers become sickly.
It has been forecasted that by 2025, the government is expected to spend RM7.4 billion in treatment costs for significant illnesses caused by smoking. This money could be better spent on other healthcare services.
Well, it looks like the government might now be ready to move to the next level.
On January 28, 2022, Minister of Health Khairy Jamaluddin informed the WHO executive board meeting in Geneva that Malaysia planned to pass a new legislation, the Tobacco and Smoking Control Act.
This would make it illegal to sell tobacco products, substitute tobacco products, smoking substances and smoking devices to anyone born after 2005. This would mean that those who reach 18 years old cannot buy cigarettes next year.
I am sure there will be a lot of pressure on politicians from various quarters to halt the introduction of this new law. After all, the tobacco industry is a powerful force.
There will also be smokers on social media voicing out that they have smokers’ rights. There is no such thing. There is nothing healthy about smoking.
Many of us have to contend with people smoking around us at one time or another. So let us not forget about the rights of non-smokers who risk being killed.
The silent majority would welcome this new law. Let’s pray the politicians do not give in to any pressure to derail the plans.
So despite all the above laws and anti-smoking campaigns, why do we still have an estimated 7 million smokers?
I am not saying the efforts by the government did not have an impact. In fact, without these past actions, we most likely would have had several million more smokers.
The issue is a lack of law-abiding citizens and lax enforcement. Enforcing the new proposed regulation is of critical importance to ensure the objectives of the law are achieved.
We have many current anti-smoking laws that are still not applied regularly and consistently. Our government must overcome this challenge to create a permanent change in our society.
This is achievable. In 2004, Bhutan became the first nation to ban the sale of tobacco. It outlawed smoking in all public places and further enhanced its anti-tobacco legislation in 2010 with stiff penalties.
Nowadays, it is not often that a minister is praised. I hope Khairy is successful in his efforts to improve the health of Malaysians and make them live longer.
In Sarawak, let’s all work together to support anti-tobacco laws. It would be good to enhance them by introducing our own ordinances to stop this smoking pandemic.
It is time we nail this problem.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
