This, said the Confederation of Malaysian Tobacco Manufacturers (CMTM), will also cause an implosion of demands for illicit cigarettes, which could cause the government to lose up to RM5 billion in revenue annually from the industry.

“Rather than creating a non-smoking generation, Malaysia might create a generation filled with criminals who are penalised for purchasing or consuming items that are legal for others.

“In addition, such a law will cause the government to lose up to RM5 billion in revenue annually from the tobacco industry and affect the economy,” it said in an open letter to Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

CMTM said that such heavy penalties would make future generations vulnerable to harsh enforcement practices like raids on their homes and vehicles, phone inspections, access to their personal data by force, and even body inspection.

It also said that the bill will hurt the economy as businesses would have to raise their compliance costs, thus impacting their competitiveness in the now-turbulent economy.

“Businesses might have to be shut down, causing thousands of people to lose their jobs.

“Business owners might have to adopt cost-cutting measures to control their operational costs,” added the confederation.

CMTM also said it would negatively affect Malaysia’s ability to woo foreign investors due to broad enforcement powers permitted under it, which “criminalise” individuals, including tourists and business owners.

The confederation consists of British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd, JT International Bhd and Philip Morris (Malaysia) Bhd

On July 27, health minister Khairy Jamaluddin tabled the bill in the Dewan Rakyat for the first reading. He has been pushing for the bill in line with efforts to make Malaysia a tobacco-free country by 2040.

He said it would cost the government RM8 billion to treat diseases linked to the smoking habit like lung cancer, heart problems and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by 2030.