By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, April 4: Prime Minister Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim says that the revised Control of Tobacco Products and Smoking Control Bill will be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat in May.
“Yes, our decision is clear; we will introduce the Bill.
“I apologise for the delay (in tabling the Bill) because many MPs have requested for its provisions to be reviewed, not rejecting it entirely,” he said in response to Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen’s question in the Dewan Rakyat in Kuala Lumpur today.
He also said that the government would look in Dr Yii’s proposal to expand the 50 per cent earmarking of tax revenue on e-liquids (vape) for Ministry of Health (MOH) on all sin taxes, including tobacco taxes.
Earlier, Kuala Langat MP Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi sought justification from Anwar on the government’s actions in exempting liquid and gel nicotine used in e-cigarettes from control under the Poisons Act 1952.
To this, Anwar explained that he understood the need to protect youths from smoking addiction but stressed that extreme measures to ban vape or nicotine (cigarettes) would be too drastic.
“We will continue with this tax just to prevent this substance from being spread widely cheaply.
“I agree with YB and all health care professional bodies including doctors at home who are strongly opposed to this. However, at the moment, the government believes that banning is difficult, but we can increase awareness so that people can choose.
“There are ulama who make cigarettes haram, for example, but cigarettes continue to be widely spread and this has been a problem for thousands of years. That is why we are taking a rather moderate approach which is to impose a tax but we are firm in banning it in Parliament and schools,” he added.
The anti-smoking Bill or more popularly known as the generational end game (GEG) was previously proposed by former Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin in the Dewan Rakyat on July 27 last year. However, it was referred to the Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC) to be refined.
The current Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa in a statement issued on April 1, said a new Bill which include revised allocations for the previous GEG bill, would be tabled in the next parliamentary session in May.
The new Bill, she said, is to ensure that there is comprehensive control over nicotine preparations or gels containing nicotine in the liquids used in electronic cigarettes or vape. — DayakDaily
