JULY 20 — The Malaysia Singapore Coffee Shop Proprietors’ General Association MSCSPGA is disappointed with the Cabinet’s decision to pass the bill to ban the sale of cigarette and vape to anyone born after 2005.
This ban will have a direct impact on our members of more than 20,000 coffeeshops operators nationwide as the sales of these products make up significant revenues for our businesses.
In addition, the Ministry did not provide details on how to execute this plan but it is likely that retailers are expected to check the MyKad of customers. This is going to be very difficult as the customers are all adults and a lot of people will be sceptical to show their MyKad during any retail transaction.
The worst part is the fact that the Ministry of Health did not even outline any proposal to address the illegal cigarette trade which makes up 60 per cent of the cigarette sales in the market. The real problem is illegal cigarettes that cause many smokers to continue smoking.
In addition, the proposal will force adult customers to turn to illegal traders selling illegal products and this will spur illegal trade activity further.
Instead of this, the Ministry of Health needs to come up with better enforcement to stop the illegal cigarette trade. By stopping illegal cigarettes, it will reduce the number of smokers in Malaysia.
MSCSPGA does not encourage smoking, but as legitimate business owners, we do not support the illegal industry as it brings negative consequences to the country and rakyat.
* Malaysia Singapore Coffee Shop Proprietors’ General Association was established in 1947. Currently, it has over 45 affiliates and 20,000 members throughout Malaysia and Singapore. The primary role of the association is to protect the rights and businesses of its members.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
