The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) and Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) said smoking among teenagers was on the rise and tough legislation and enforcement was necessary before it got out of control.
Earlier, in a report, FMT quoted tobacco control expert Dr Zarihah Mohd Zain, who helped draw up smoking regulations in Malaysia, as saying that the decision to raise the legal age to 21 was an excellent move that could reduce the number of smokers.
At present, according to Section 13 of the Control of Tobacco Product Regulations 2004, under the Food Act 1983, the legal smoking age for Malaysians is 18.
CAP education officer N Subbarow, who has been an anti-tobacco activist for more than 30 years, said their surveys had shown that many primary school children were indulging in the habit.
“It is time for Putrajaya to get tough on this. The current legal age is 18 but the enforcement is so weak that it is hardly effective.
“In Penang, there are so many shops selling cigarettes to primary schoolchildren in uniform.”
Subbarow said many might say that legislation was not effective but he argued that tough laws coupled with serious implementation will go hand in hand in checking this growing problem.
“As seen in many developed countries, laws to control smoking are effective in the long run, with lots of education and creating awareness in schools and via relentless public campaigns,” he said.
Fomca president N Marimuthu said besides weak enforcement, many parents were also not doing enough to discourage or stop their children from picking up this habit which could prove deadly.
He said the government may be “closing an eye” here as it valued the tax revenue from tobacco sales.
“The government has raised the taxes quite a bit over the last few decades but the decrease in the number of smokers is not in tandem.
“The government must get tough and not give in to the powerful tobacco lobby just because there is much revenue to be derived from this habit.
“The government has failed to come up with long-term education or plans to make Malaysians drop this habit,” he said.
Marimuthu said there was a need for a strong political will here to get Malaysians to realise that smoking was a habit that was wasteful and injurious to health.
Zarihah had earlier told FMT that the probability of teenagers starting to smoke is higher than for an adult.
“According to research, if a man has never smoked by the age of 18, the odds are three-to-one that he never would. By the age of 24, the odds are 20-to-one,” Zarihah said.