KL’s long-running smoke-free community programme encourages users to quit
Young people are being warned of the hidden health risks of electronic cigarettes, with anti-drug officials cautioning that vaping can act as a gateway to more severe substance abuse.
Malaysian Anti-Drug Association (Pemadam) member Nor Zaila Arifin stressed that smoking was often the start of more serious substance abuse.
“Vaping is just as dangerous because the liquid used in e-cigarettes contains substances that can harm the body, including chemicals that may damage the heart.”
Nor Zaila was manning a booth at Kuala Lumpur Smoke-Free Community Programme (KLBAR) 2026 which was launched by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Hannah Yeoh and Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Seri Fadlun Mak Ujud.
The event at Gombak Community Centre in Setapak was attended by residents from Gombak Setia People’s Housing Project (PPR), Sri Kedah and Seri Langkawi 2 public housing (PA) developments and surrounding areas.
The visitors had access to a range of services, including a mental health assessment and the Smokerlyzer, a breath monitor that measures carbon monoxide (CO) levels and the percentage of blood haemoglobin affected by it.
Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz UKM assistant environmental health officer Muhammad Sharif Mat Jamal said about 60 people, mostly teenagers, took the test.
“The maximum COHb (carboxyhemoglobin) reading was 5.43% from someone who smokes one pack of cigarettes a day.
“However, such readings are not permanent and can return to the baseline range of 0.79% to 1.59% within a day.”
He said among those who took the test was a 15-year-old brought by his mother to make him aware about the dangers of smoking.
National Anti-Drug Agency (AADK) assistant anti-drug officer Dafee Mohd Zainal said the main issue with vape products was the presence of nicotine, which could be dangerously high.
“Many young people mistakenly believe vaping gives them energy, without realising its harmful effects,” he said.
To push the message on the harm of smoking, Fadlun in his speech shared his experience as an ex-smoker.
“I started smoking when I was young, mainly due to curiosity and peer pressure,” he said.
“By the time I was in college, I had become a heavy smoker.”
Being young and foolish, he even thought that men who smoke appeared “heroic”.
However, the harmful effects soon became clear.
“I began to feel my stamina declining. This affected my performance in sports.
“In time, I began coughing up dark phlegm in the mornings.”
Fadlun said he quit smoking to protect his health, and had not touched a cigarette in 16 years.
Urging smokers and vape users to quit, he said the habit offered no benefit and only increased the risk of illness like lung disease.
Crucially, he highlighted that smoking harmed not only the smoker but also those nearby through second-hand smoke.
Fadlun said Kuala Lumpur had made significant progress in tobacco control, with compliance at smoke-free zones rising from 48.4% in 2019 to 82.4% in 2022.
He added that Kuala Lumpur was also the first city in Malaysia to gazette covered walkways as smoke-free zones in 2017.
KLBAR, which started in 2017, is a collaboration between Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Health Ministry, AADK, Monash University, Bank Negara Malaysia and local community leaders.
At the same event, Fadlun highlighted dengue as another pressing public health challenge, saying PPR Gombak Setia and PA Seri Kedah had been identified as hotspots with 61 and 15 cases respectively this year.
He said DBKL was working with the Health Department to introduce Wolbachia mosquitoes to reduce the breeding of Aedes mosquitoes, with RM200,000 allocated for the initiative.
“It has been recommended that PPR Seri Kedah and PPR Gombak Setia become model areas for reducing dengue fever cases,” he added.
