‘Today’s a sad day’: KJ 'congratulates' tobacco, vape industry victory

 

Former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin today criticised the government for missing a consequential landmark legislation for public health.

This came after the government dropped provisions related to the tobacco and vape ban based on age from the revised Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill, which was tabled for the first reading in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Khairy, the architect of the original bill, ‘congratulated’ the big tobacco and vape industry, claiming that the latter had “won”.

“Today is a sad day. I crafted the GEG for public health, and the bill that I brought to Parliament which contained the GEG and measures to regulate vape sales received support from the public health community.

“They wanted vape to be banned, full stop. However, we managed to find a middle ground where we included the GEG provisions. Now, those have been dropped.

“Anyway, congratulations to big tobacco and the vape industry. You have won,” he wrote on his Instagram Story.

Khairy also said that he “demolished” the argument put forward by the government that the Attorney-General’s Chambers viewed the GEG provisions as unconstitutional. However, he did not elaborate.

Sole reason

Earlier today, Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said the AGC’s view was the sole reason behind the GEG provisions being dropped from the revised Control of Smoking Products for Public Health bill.

She added that the government carries the responsibility to take the AGC’s view into account.

Zaliha, however, gave her assurance that the GEG clause would not be forgotten and was merely being put aside to focus on the current revised bill.

Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa

“Once the bill is passed, we will monitor this and see how it goes. We will look at the impact and effects as well as the smoking percentage.

“If we feel there is a need to relook at it (GEG), and there is a need for the GEG (provision), we will bring it back,” she said.

The previous version of the bill had introduced measures meant to prevent anyone born from 2007 onwards from buying tobacco or nicotine products, giving the bill its Generational End Game (GEG) moniker.

According to the bill sighted by the media today, the new version of the bill prohibits the sale of tobacco products, smoking substances or substitute tobacco products or providing any services for smoking to a minor.

GEG provisions

On Nov 15, Khairy accused several ministers of blocking the legislation aimed at making it illegal for those born after 2007 to buy or consume nicotine products, adding that the cabinet’s handling of the matter was “absolutely shambolic”.

Previously, a source in the Health Ministry told Malaysiakini that tobacco lobbyists were also exerting pressure on the government to torpedo the GEG.

Meanwhile, health watchdog CodeBlue reported that Attorney-General Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh opined that the GEG provisions were “unconstitutional” because they violated Article 8 of the Federal Constitution which guaranteed equality before the law.

Lawyer New Sin Yew previously argued that Article 8 permits discrimination if there is an “intelligible differentia” and if the discrimination was in pursuit of a “legitimate objective”, suggesting that a way to get around the matter was to refine the wording in the GEG bill. - Mkini