PETALING JAYA: The Control of Tobacco Products and Smoking Bill 2022 must be passed in the upcoming Dewan Rakyat sitting, urged health experts.
Public health expert Datuk Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar said it is important for the law dubbed as the generational end game (GEG) Bill to be enacted given the fact that there are several products in the market such as vapes and e-cigarettes which are not adequately regulated at the moment.
“We hope it can be tabled at this Parliament sitting and approved,” he said when contacted.
“This is our last chance to see the Bill to be approved before the 15th General Election,” he said, adding that otherwise a fresh attempt will be required by the new government.
He hoped that a few “modifications” can be made and agreed upon on the Bill which has been sent to the Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSCC) for fine-tuning. He said this includes areas such as investigation procedure and penalty among others.
He said the law is important to prevent a new generation of smokers.
President of Malaysian Women Action for Tobacco Control and Health (MyWATCH) Roslizawati Md Ali said it is understood that the Bill will be prioritised in the next Parliament sitting which convenes on Oct 3.
“We hope there will not be many changes in the Bill - whatever changes had been remedied and announced by the Health Minister (Khairy Jamaluddin) during the last Parliament session.
“Many MPs could not comprehend that the Bill was meant to protect the younger generation and the new generation to come. The articles, clauses, and subsets are not to be read in silos,” she added.
She said extensive studies and research including on whether the GEG complied with international standards and Malaysian laws was done before the Bill was drafted.
“We had made extensive studies, research and analyses over more than 13 years, across five Health Ministers, be it Barisan Nasional, Pakatan Harapan or the Perikatan Nasional government.
“Health is for all. Let Health be bi-partisan and not taken with political innuendos, in accordance with UN SDG3: Health and Wellbeing,” she added
She said there should not be any further changes and several stakeholders including NGOs and professional bodies have been engaged.
“We can study New Zealand's regulations, but we must consider objectively the behavioural insights of Malaysians - cultural attitudes and aptitudes, geographical and cultural differences, accountability, standards of critical thinking, etc.
“We see advertising, promotions and sales of smoking products targetted at children. We have studied the effects and impact on minors, the rise in use of smoking products among children especially girls, the disease burden, the burden on health and government expenditure.
“We will be accountable if we do not implement measures to curb, protect and safeguard the young and new generation,” she added.
She said perhaps dialogues with MPs and legislators could help them understand the issue at hand.
The Bill was tabled for its first reading in the Dewan Rakyat by Khairy (July 27) and tabled for a second reading on Monday (Aug 1) with the goal of passing it on Aug 2.
However, the Bill was deferred from voting at the last minute as Khairy acknowledged that there were differing views from MPs on the Bill.
