KJ slams ‘half-past six’ ministers in Anwar’s govt

 

After Tiong King Sing described Khairy Jamaluddin as the worst health minister, Khairy responded by questioning Tiong’s own competence.

PETALING JAYA: An incredulous Khairy Jamaluddin has slammed tourism, arts and culture minister Tiong King Sing for seemingly being ignorant about the link between smoking and cancer.

He also questioned Tiong’s competence as a Cabinet member, after Tiong, who is Bintulu MP, made a scathing attack on Khairy, blaming him for purported defects in the anti-smoking and tobacco control bill introduced by Khairy when he was health minister.

Tiong described Khairy as the worst health minister and said Khairy had failed to prove that smoking causes cancer.

In response, Khairy questioned Tiong’s competence and said the minister’s remarks reflected badly on Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

“It’s 2023 and there’s still a minister who questions the link between smoking and cancer,” Khairy said in a series of posts on Instagram. “(This was) said by a member of the Madani Cabinet. Honestly, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, what kind of half-past-six ministers have you got?”

Tagging Anwar’s account on Instagram, Khairy said: “You’re only as good as your ministers.”

He also posted a screenshot of an article by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which stated that smoking can cause cancer “almost anywhere” in the body.

“(This is from) the CDC in the US. This is not empty talk in Bintulu coffeeshops,” Khairy said.

He also shared a screenshot of a posting on X (formerly Twitter) by World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus from earlier today in which Ghebreyesus warned the public to think of smoking as a “slow poison for your body”.

Ghebreyesus said smoking harms the lungs, weakens the immune system, and increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, and cancer.

Tiong in his attack on Khairy said the former health minister should not have blamed others after introducing the bill, which he described as unconstitutional and unenforceable, containing ill-prepared measures.

The bill, sometimes known as the generational end-game (GEG) bill, seeks to ban smoking among those born after 2007 and restricts the sale of tobacco products to that age group.

The bill came into recent scrutiny after a report that Attorney-General Ahmad Terrirudin Salleh had deemed a provision in the bill to be unconstitutional, for violating the article on equality before the law.

Khairy had blamed three government figures, whom he did not name, for causing setbacks to the bill. - FMT