At a forum earlier this week, the ministry’s disease control division director Dr Chong Chee Kheong said such regulations were implemented with public health in mind.
He explained that regulations were the “last” and health promotion the “first” intervention tool the government would use to get the people to lead a healthier lifestyle.
But the government had been actively advocating a healthier lifestyle since 1991 to no avail, he said.
“Critics will say our health promotion efforts have not been good so people don’t listen,” he said at a forum on lifestyle regulations and its impact on business organised by the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs.
But Chong said government studies showed that people were aware of healthy lifestyle choices but simply did not choose to lead one.
“So at some point in time, we will see the need for something stronger than health promotion. Our justification for regulation starts when we see alarming health figures,” he said, adding that the numbers for diabetes, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia had increased over the years.
Nearly 50% of Malaysians over the age of 18 are overweight or obese; almost 40% have high cholesterol; 39% have hypertension; and 17% are diabetic.
In numbers, Chong said, this meant that three million people were diabetic, six million were hypertensive and nine million were hypercholesterolemic.
While the argument against lifestyle regulations was that one’s lifestyle was a personal concern that did not harm anyone, Chong said the government had a different point of view.
This was because the government would have to take care of the sick.
“Overall, the government has spent RM4 billion on treating diabetes,” he said, adding that the amount increased in tandem with the number of diabetics in need of treatment.
He said the need to regulate was increasingly pressing as health promotion efforts failed to stop lifestyle diseases from rising.
“It’s not that people don’t listen, but it goes in one ear and out the other.”
Last June, Deputy Health Minister Dr Hilmi Yahaya said there was a plan to impose tax on imported and locally-produced sugar-sweetened beverages to control obesity and non-communicable diseases linked to diet.
He said the proposal was also included in the government’s National Plan of Action on Nutrition III and the policy options for the years 2016-2025.
Lifestyle regulations that have been implemented include turning public spaces into smoke free-zones and banning vape sales.