Khairy claps back at Tiong, calling him a tarnish on the Prime Minister's administration

PETALING JAYA: Former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin has clapped back at Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing, claiming Bintulu MP is ignorant about the link between smoking and cancer.

In several Instagram posts on Thursday (Nov 16), Khairy questioned Tiong’s competence and claimed that the Cabinet member reflected poorly on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

"It’s 2023, and there’s still a minister who questions the link between smoking and cancer.

"Honestly, what kind of half-past six ministers do you have? You’re only as good as your ministers," Khairy wrote on Instagram, tagging Anwar’s account.

This came after Tiong, in a Facebook post earlier on Thursday, accused Khairy of being the worst health minister ever and urged people to stop blaming current ministers for the failure to pass the Generational Endgame (GEG) bill, which was Khairy’s brainchild.

Tiong claimed that Khairy had failed to provide definitive proof that smoking was linked to cancer during the latter’s time in office, which made the Bill both 'unconstitutional' and 'unenforceable'.

On this, Khairy shared a screenshot of an article by the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which stated that smoking could cause cancer 'almost anywhere' in the body.

He also shared a screenshot of a post by World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus earlier on Thursday, in which the latter warned the public that smoking was "a slow poison for your body".

"It harms your lungs, weakens your immune system, and increases the chances of heart attacks, strokes and cancer. Don’t let cigarettes steal your health," Tedros wrote.