It doesn't pay to smoke

LAST month, The Star carried a headline: “Live smoke-free life and be rewarded”. Under the Malaysian government’s Blue Ribbon campaign, three awards will be given for making significant contributions to a smoke-free environment. Whoa, how nice!

In Japan, penalty is the deterrent to enforce a smoke-free environment. Last October, five teachers in Osaka were caught sneaking off between classes to smoke outside the school gates. The Board of Education fined the teachers ¥500,000 (RM15,290) each for flouting the 2008 diktat that banned smoking at schools by the then governor, Toru Hashimoto.