Norman Ismail, secretary-general of the Malaysia E-Vaporizers and Tobacco Alternative Association (Mevta) said there were about 600 vaping shops in Kuala Lumpur last year but now there were only about 150.
“Every day we hear of shops being closed,” Southeast Asia Globe quoted him as saying.
The report quoted Norman as saying that the ministry of health was the vapers’ “public enemy number one”, attributing the drop in the number of vapers and vaping shops to the “scare tactics” of the ministry.
The report noted that vaping had been banned in Thailand, Singapore and Cambodia, while several other Southeast Asian nations were mulling prohibition.
This, it said, had made Malaysia one of its last bastions in the region.
The report said vaping had been so popular in Malaysia that last November, the GlobalPost had dubbed Malaysia “Asia’s vaping wonderland”.
Norman said vaping remained a grey area in Malaysia: it was not banned but had yet to be regulated and legalised.
Late last year, the health ministry announced it was working on laws to regulate vaping, including such details as where one can and cannot smoke to rules on the manufacture and sale of products.
The report quoted Jeremy Ong as telling FreeMalaysiaToday in May that due to the declining number of vapers, a number of Malaysian vape distributors had begun looking at the export market.
SEE MORE: