Mixed reactions from Sarawak businesses on Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act

KUCHING (Oct 3): Several coffee shop owners here have raised their concerns on the stringency of the recently imposed Act 852 (Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024) and their impacts to businesses.

The Act that came into force on Oct 1 regulates, among others, the registration, sale, packaging, and labelling of tobacco products, smoking substances and tobacco substitutes to those under the age of 18, along with restrictions on smoking in public places and products’ display at sales counters.

The Malaysia Singapore Coffee Shop Proprietors’ General Association had initially requested for a delay in the Act’s implementation, stating ‘it could significantly affect coffee shop operators’ revenues as the sale of legal cigarettes accounts for approximately 20 per cent of their total revenue’.

In an interview with The Borneo Post, some of the coffee shop owners here viewed the move as a good initiative by the government, but there were also those who deemed the new regulation as ‘against one’s freedom of choice’.

For Yap Chee Kit, 45, Ipoh BBQ food stall operator, the new Act did not come as a major surprise as the previous Control of Tobacco Product (Amendment) Regulations 2021 had already implemented its smoke-free policy in all public places.

“Even after putting up signs and prohibiting customers from smoking, customers would still sit outside the coffee shop and smoke, and this has been a norm for the older generation customers.

“Slowly, there has been a decrease in older customers staying longer to chat and smoke. This can, however, be a good thing as new customers will be able to get their table immediately,” he said.

Yap, however, opined that the Malaysian government ought to follow the Singaporean’s way where the eateries are allowed to provide designated smoking areas for their customers.

“The customers will smoke within that yellow line and in that way, other non-smoker customers will not go close to that area,” he said, adding that it would also have been better if the government had delayed the Act’s implementation for the settling-in period.

K. One Kopitiam owner, Benedict Sze, 49, meanwhile, remarked that the imposed regulations on the sale of cigarettes would not affect them as much as it did not bring them much profit.

“We are more likely to lose our customers if we prevent those, especially the older generations from smoking at our premises,” said Sze, adding that it would be best to provide designated smoking areas for this category instead.

Chan Yee Her, 35, Jin Ming café owner, also shared the sentiment.

“For us being an open-air coffee shop, it can be ‘bothersome’ to ask the customers not to smoke. If we tell them so, they may stop coming. That’s the negative side,” he said.

“The sales of tobacco, on the other hand, pose a low profit margin for food premises owners, hence, we are not deeply affected by this regulation in that sense,” he remarked.

Under Act 852, violations of these control of sale regulations can lead to fines of up to RM20,000 or one year in prison for individuals for the first offence, and up to RM30,000 or two years for repeat offences.

Corporations face fines starting at RM20,000 (up to RM100,000) for the first offence or up to two years in prison, and RM50,000 (up to RM300,000) for subsequent violations, with potential imprisonment of up to three years.