JANUARY 2 — The Health Ministry meant well and good in desiring to impose the smoking ban at eateries.

However from the word go, it was a poorly announced intention with weak strategies and therefore in all likelihood would end up as a failed effort over time costing the government much human resource and financial wastage and embarrassment.

Given the fact that there is now legal action by a band of smokers against the ministry’s action and the truth that the large segment of B40 working class who patronise stalls and open air roadside eateries do smoke, the ministry is headed for a laughing stock of the whole episode.

Further, the fact that a punitive ban from the first day of the year is now given a six-month lease of mere “advise not to smoke” shows that the strategy to ban smoking is a failure from the start.

Here is what the health minister could have instead done to make a huge success of the well-intended anti-smoking drive.

First, creating awareness should not be accompanied by punishment with heavy fines of smokers and eateries.

Instead the ministry should have launched an educational approach.

Placing awareness posters at eateries; waging an intensive CSR media-sponsored campaign on the dangers of smoking and passive smoke; getting private health care businesses to do CSR to build awareness on an intensive timeline of 12 calender months — all these would have enabled the ministry to be perceived as responsible, smart, fair and forceful.

Second, the ministry could have tasked eateries with a 12-month span to segregate smoking and non-smoking sections with appropriate facades.

Eateries could be tasked to reinvest their profit margins to build ventilation technologies, enclosures or glass cubicles to separate smoking and non-smoking sections — these would ensure the rights of smokers and non-smokers are not trampled on as smoking is not a crime.

Third, the battle to discourage smoking begins in schools. It’s a long haul effort as smoking is as old a habit as human civilisation.

Further, you cannot purge this smoking trend when tobacco cultivation and sales is a multi-billion dollar business sanctioned the world over and one that gives governments huge dividends to its coffers.

Hopefully these salient points will reach the eyes and ears of the minister for quick corrections, or end up as yet another liability to the already jittery new government.

The battle to be tackled is a comprehensive programme that addresses holistic health and wellness for citizens. By singling out a smoking ban without addressing commercial vehicular emissions, factory pollutants, deforesting, pesticide abuses, etc. will not give the perception that we have an effective government that truly cares for its citizens above making money at the expense of social wellbeing.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.