KUCHING: Sarawak should resort to educating the younger generation on the dangers of smoking to encourage smokers to kick the habit.
Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) president Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing (pic)said the nationwide smoking ban at eateries to discourage smokers might not prove effective in Sarawak if there was no effort to educate school-going children and parents on the hazards of smoking.
“Bulldozing legislations alone would not produce the desired results,” he said in an interview with the New Sarawak Tribune, yesterday.
Those caught smoking in prohibited areas will be fined up to RM10,000 or face two years’ jail, while eateries found to have allowed customers to light up will be slapped with a maximum fine of RM2,500.
Sarawak, along with Sabah, has not enforced the ban.
The ban which came into force on Jan 1 covers air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned restaurants, coffeeshops, open-air hawker centres and street stalls.
Tiong said, “Forcing people to stop smoking in these places will not resolve the issue. We must get to the root of the problem.
“For example, even primary school pupils these days have picked up the habit. Not just secondary school students. So what do we do?
“We should start educating these young people. Not just stopping people from smoking in restaurants and even hawker stalls along the streets,” he said.
Tiong reasoned that if steps were not forthcoming to stop the younger generation from smoking, “the country will have a population of smokers in the future.”
He said Malaysian health authorities should learn from the mistakes of other countries where lack of education had resulted in their young population, some of them in their early teens, picking up the smoking habit.
“They (teens) smoke like nobody’s business…they smoke better than their elders,” he said.
Tiong, who is the Bintulu MP, said in the case of Sarawak, educational programmes should also be introduced in rural areas as many people had picked up the habit.
On the maximum fine of RM10,000 or two years’ jail, he said it would not stop smokers, arguing that the penalties were “ridiculous”.
“Let’s take people from rural areas who come to the town and being innocent and unaware of the law, they light up in eateries. And you fine them RM10,000?
“This is ridiculous. Those who take ganja are only fined RM2,500. The authorities should look into this,” he added.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad recently said enforcement officers would focus more on educating the public for now.
“These policies will take time to implement, so we want to step up awareness first,” he said.
He said for the first six months, Health Ministry officers would not issue fines but take note of repeat offenders.
