Malaysia has been enforcing a smoking ban at eateries, even open-air ones since 2019 but it is not an over-exaggeration to say that the regulation has been largely ignored by smokers.
Recently, the Ministry of Health (MOH) together with several other ministries and uniformed bodies have conducted a couple of “integrated mega operations” against smoking in prohibited places.
On Thursday (25 May), MOH Perak issued 424 notices and a total sum of RM103,950 compounds for various offences relating to smoking in prohibited places.
These include 13 notices to eateries for failure to display a no-smoking sign and 6 notices for failure to ensure no patrons are smoking on their premises.
According to MOH’s official Facebook page, this was part of an integrated mega operation involving 106 officers from MOH, PDRM and the Ipoh City Council.
Besides that, MOH Melaka also conducted a similar operation which yielded 886 notices with a compound value of RM204,100.
As reported by BERNAMA, from the 886 notices, 845 or 95.4% are notices in regard to smoking in prohibited areas, including minors under 18.
In the comments section, a majority of Malaysians praised MOH for the operations but urge the ministry to conduct such operations more frequently.
One commenter said that the more frequent the operations against smoking at prohibited places are, the better. Meanwhile, another netizen echoed the same sentiment, saying that stricter enforcement of the ban should be done at restaurants.
Another commenter hoped that such strict operations should be done in the whole of Malaysia and asserted that our country has tonnes of laws, but no enforcement.
Besides that, one netizen urges MOH to keep an eye on Mamak restaurants as there are a lot of smokers who freely smoke there despite the ban.
He claimed that not only do they smoke at outdoor seating during the night time, some even smoked during the day when people are having their breakfasts.
So, what are your thoughts on these comments by netizens? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
Also read: “Selfish & ignorant!” – M’sian Man Wearing Bomba Shirt Caught Smoking at a Shah Alam Restaurant
