“Having tobacco warnings in Chinese would yield meaningful outcome from boycott-happy Malaysians”

 

ACCORDING to the Oxford Language Club, the idiom “hit the nail on the head” means to be completely right about something or to accurately identify the core cause of a situation or problem.

It does appear that a Threader has definitely hit the proverbial nail on the head when proposing the novel solution to combating the filthy habit of smoking.

According to Threader Heston (@hestoncaxton), the age-old battle against smoking would be dealt a great boost with one simple measure – the warning labels should be purely in Chinese!

The trick is to remove the English and Bahasa Malaysia text on the dangers of puffing away and just leave the images of damaged lungs alongside Chinese text only.

Judging from recent reactions on the issue of Chinese-only signs/labels, it was surmised that Malaysians would switch to their de facto re-action which is to boycott the product/brand.

“Finally, after years, the Health Ministry (MOH) will have achieved its target of reducing the smoking habit through boycott,” the self-proclaimed “Cina sepet” (slang for slit-eyes Chinese) chimed sarcastically.

The idea elicited plenty of backing among netizens who applauded the poster for his creative thinking.

There were plenty of commenters who agreed with the sentiments, noting that it seemed almost a logical thing to do.

One Muslim anti-smoker suggested going the whole hog (pun fully intended) by putting porcine as an ingredient in cigarettes. One even suggested making this porcine label on ciggie boxes mandatory by law!

Difficult habit to kick

Taking a step further, a sarcastic citizen remarked that aside from the words “PORK” and “HARAM” written with large fonts to catch the attention Muslims, the digit “4” should also be printed on the packaging to deter superstitious Chinese.

Add “beef” to the list of ingredients to scare away pious Hindus and it was opined that ciggie sales would surely plummet with all major races finally having reasons to stay away (apart from the obvious health dangers).

Alluding to current brouhaha over boycotting of restaurants that are “halal and clean”, some commenters were non-plussed that such ire was not directed at an item decreed haram at fatwa (non-binding legal ruling or religious opinion on a point of Islamic law issued by a qualified Islamic scholar or mufti) level.

Editor’s Note: The Fatwa Committee of the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs has declared smoking conventional cigarettes “haram” on March 23, 1995 due to its proven health hazards and self-destruction risks.

It was then pointed out that Malaysians are a selective bunch with a propensity to close one eye when it suits them. It was noted with incredulity that the lack of halal certification has not stopped many Muslims from consuming tobacco products.

“After all, Malay Muslims are known to be a hypocrite bunch,” mocked one commenter.

A politically-charged commenter believed that instead of Chinese, the text should be in Hebrew and all proceeds from ciggie sales be directed to Israel. “Only then would Muslims stop buying,” he opined.

This view, however, was countered by another fed-up commenter who was resigned to the fact that many Malaysians are simply addicted. Not even Jewish text would change that.

“Not smoking is like not being able to breathe, just like corruption,” he sighed, pointing to another inescapable disgusting habit among certain demographic in the Malaysian society.

Perhaps therein lies the harsh truth. Malaysians are swift to condemn certain things that are an affront to their senses but remain willfully silent on similar matters when it suits them.

As one perceptive Malaysian aptly puts it – “they like to choose their sins”. 

- Focus Malaysia