KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 17 — The Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Owners Association (Presma) today lauded the move by Pelita Samudra Pertama (M) Sdn Bhd (Pelita) to stop selling cigarettes.
Pelita halted cigarette sales in all of its outlets effective yesterday.
However, its president Ayub Khan said that other members in the association are not pressured to follow suit, and are free to decide on their business operations.
"This one is a business move, and it’s a personal choice. As business people, our members sell many things and it’s up to them.
"This is a good thing what they (Pelita) did.
"It's not an issue, but we cannot enforce a rule banning all our members from doing so. We also do not have such a power," Ayub told Malay Mail when contacted.
"It's on their own volition," he added.
On January 8, the New Straits Times (NST) reported that Pelita had planned to stop selling cigarettes at its restaurants nationwide by the end of 2019.
According to Pelita executive director KK Sihabutheen, the move was in support of the government’s smoking ban at eateries and restaurants beginning January 1.
“However, we need more time to implement the measures due to the involvement of several other parties, including cigarette distributors and the acceptance of our customers,” he was quoted as saying by the NST.
Sihabutheen said he was confident that customers would support his company’s move as many patrons were non-smokers and wished for a smoke-free area.
However, national news wire Bernama reported today that the popular nasi kandar restaurant had stopped selling cigarettes beginning yesterday.
Since January 1, smoking in public places such as restaurants, including those in the open air, has been banned.
However, the Health Ministry is giving a six-month grace period to restaurant operators and their patrons, and will start enforcing the law strictly only from July 1. It will issue warnings until then.
