Association urges govt to make U-turn on smoking ban in open-air eateries

SIBU: The Federation of Coffee Merchants and Restaurant Association Sarawak wants the Pakatan Harapan government to stop the move to ban smoking in all open-air eateries.

It feared that the ban, which comes into effect from Jan 1, 2019, would have serious repercussion on their business.

"Since the Prime Minister had said that it was okay to make a U-turn as nobody is perfect, we hope he will do it for us by reverting on the move to ban smoking in food premises," said the association's third vice president, Hii Hung Yii at a press conference on Sunday (Dec 9).

Hii was referring to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's response to several reports, one of which was the suspension of the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loan instalment scheme that was supposed to take effect on Jan 1.

Hii said the people had elected Pakatan in GE14 in the hopes that the country would get better and not worse.

"But instead, it was making it difficult for us with this ban on smoking. We are already facing hard times and with new policies, it will be worse for us," he said.

He wanted the Health Minister who initiated the move to "sit down in the coffee shop to understand how hard it is to make business now".

"Don't just sit in the cosy environment in your office and propose this and that. Come to us and see how we are struggling in our business where we have to operate our eatery from 4am until 3pm daily," he added.

Hii said imposing fines of RM2,500 for failing to enforce the law was a double blow for eatery operators.

"Though we are against the ministry's move, it does not mean that we encourage smoking," he said.

They also wanted the government to instead set up a smoking zone instead of totally banning smoking in their premises.

The members later held a picket at Sibu Gateway, holding placards, urging the government to listen to their requests to not implement the ban on smoking in their premises.