Responding to criticism of health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad’s statement that the government is considering the move, the society said that far from being a “U-turn” in the fight against smoking, “it progresses the wider effort to create more smoke-free areas in public areas”.

“As an organisation working specifically within the tobacco control landscape, the National Cancer Society of Malaysia would like to clarify the wrong narrative being put out on this issue.

“The ministry has proposed allowing designated smoking areas not within smoke-free areas, but in areas with smoke-free premises,” the society’s managing director, Dr M Murallitharan, said in a statement.

Murallitharan explained that the term “smoke-free premises” refers to specific establishments such as hospitals, schools and other facilities where people are not allowed to smoke.

“For restaurants and eating establishments in particular, this extends not only to the specific establishment but also within a 3m radius of the establishment.

“It needs to be understood that outside this 3m radius, individuals can smoke freely,” he said.

“Smoke-free areas”, on the other hand, refer to entire areas gazetted under the law where people cannot smoke at all, he said.

“This includes certain parks and most famously, places such as the entirety of Jonker Walk in Melaka. It is important to stress that within the entirety of this area, people are not able to smoke whatsoever.”

Murallitharan said that keeping “smoke-free areas” off-limits to smokers, and designating smoking areas in “smoke-free premises” would contribute to long-term public “denormalisation” of smoking, as it sends a clear message that smoking is not within social norms.

“The advantage of this is very clear. Instead of having cigarette butts strewn all over the place, specific spaces can be designated for this purpose, equipped with bins to facilitate waste disposal.

“These designated smoking areas should be spartan and feature quit-smoking and health promotion messaging, designed to induce behavioural change in smokers utilising them,” he said.