I checked. It’s still very much in effect. In fact, Malaysia enforced a no-smoking ruling at all eateries and restaurants nationwide on Jan 1, 2019[1]. Not just eateries. The ban covered/covers a total of 23 areas including public parks and camp sites[2].
As an aside, smoking in parks is puzzling. I kid you not. One very rainy Sunday evening at Metropolitan Park in Kepong, my husband and I, and many others huddled under a shelter to keep dry. A father, in exercise gear, smoked under the same shelter, while holding his young son close to him. Really? Yes, really.
But, it’s smoking in eateries that eats me up the most. It happened as recently as last weekend. We were at Good Luck Kopitiam at The Palette in Setapak. The restaurant offers both indoor/air-conditioned and outdoor seating. We sat al fresco to enjoy the open-air environment. A family of six came along. Three men amongst them lit up as soon as they sat down. One at least walked away to smoke. The other two, not a care. The law requires smokers to keep a distance of three metres from eateries when smoking.
The foul-smelling smoke permeated the air almost immediately. That was enough for my husband and me to transport our curry chicken noodles, which we had started on, to another table as far away as possible from the irritants. The service staff readily helped us move.
Why didn’t we tell the men to stop smoking? One. They looked rather thuggish and were much bigger than us. Two. Is it our duty/responsibility to tell smokers they were breaking the law? Three. Is it the duty/responsibility of the restaurant to police this behaviour?
Number three, I thought. So, I told the service staff at Good Luck Kopitiam that she should inform her customers, who already knew smoking wasn’t allowed, to stop. She, in turn, told us it was difficult for her to ask/inform/instruct them to do so. For her, it was much easier to help us change tables.
A similar incident happened at Healey Mac’s near KLCC. We complained to the manager. He was reluctant to act. He informed us that the establishment only requested smokers to stop smoking if there was a complaint from other customers. We were the other customers. We complained. He told the two offending parties to put out their cigarettes. And, ratted us out to them. All evening, they looked at us disapprovingly as if we had infringed on their right to smoke and ruined their time out.
Sadly, these are not isolated incidences. We’ve had dagger looks and/or rude mutterings when we’ve reminded smokers to stop. The unpleasantness is one of the reasons we decided to move tables at Good Luck Kopitiam instead of stating the obvious – STOP smoking at places where food and beverages are served. It is also tiresome and stressful confronting smokers, who are mostly self-righteous and belligerent.
It irks me that smokers are oblivious or pretend to be oblivious to the in-your-face facts. They are breaking the law. They are polluting our airspace and forcing us to inhale their toxic second-hand cigarette smoke. Tobacco smoke is a toxic mix of more than 7,000 chemicals. Many are poisons. At least 70 are known to cause cancer in people or animals[3]. Their actions/habits impact us directly in measurable ways. They damage our health, stress government finances and resources, and contribute to air pollution, global warming and littering.
‘There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke. In adults who don’t smoke, second-hand smoke exposure can cause coronary heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and other diseases. It can also result in premature death. In children, second-hand smoke exposure can cause respiratory infections, ear infections, and asthma attacks.[4]
My friend’s mum, a non-smoker, died of lung cancer from years of exposure to second-hand smoke. She operated a food stall. Admittedly, I’ve become amply aware of smoking and the dire consequences it poses after brother number 1 was diagnosed with stage four cancer. A long-time smoker, the disease and treatments are hard on him and his family, and everyone who cares for him, and loves him.
So how? Restaurants/businesses argued/argue that they should not be the enforcers of the smoking ban. Particularly as they risk losing customers, and are suffering staff shortage. In 2019, restaurant owners said they had suffered losses of up to 30% since the smoking ban came into effect[5].
What to do? Report smoking in restaurants to the Health Ministry via WhatsApp directly through its Smoking Complaint line at 010-860 8949. Include the name of the restaurant and address, and the time and date of the offence.
Fingers crossed.
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