Vape traders to seek action

KOTA BARU: It looks like the vape traders in Kelantan will go to court to fight the state government’s decision to shut down the business.

They will first hold a protest and hand over a memorandum to Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob to help them.

Otherwise, they will seek legal redress to solve the issue.

Kelantan Vapers Association (PVK) spokesman Mohd Khaleb Khan Nasir Khan dubbed the one-month grace period given by the state government a “mockery” and said it was insufficient to enable the vape traders to recoup their losses.

He added that the Kelantan chapter of the Malaysian Malay Vaping Traders Organisation, in a letter of appeal, had asked the state government to retract the ban and wait for six months for the Federal Government to come up with a Vaping Act to regulate the industry.

But he said the state local government committee chairman Datuk Abdul Fattah Mahmood rejected the organisation’s appeals and only gave them a month to vacate their shops.

“We are now gathering information on the matter in our bid to get a court injunction to prevent the ban from being imposed.

“The reprieve given is not a solution, but rather an academic exercise and impractical.

“It seems we need to get a court order on the validity of the vaping ban,” he told a press conference here yesterday.

Mohd Khaleb also said the members would hold a peaceful rally to hand over a memorandum to Ahmad Yakob to ask him to intervene on the issue.

“We will exhaust all avenues to solve this matter amicably. Our last resort is to bring it to the courts because we intend to see this through to the end,” he added.

The state government had banned the sale of vaping products on Jan 1.

Notices had been sent out to 350 outlets statewide for the members to vacate their premises.

Kelantan is the second state after Johor to ban the sale of vaping products.