Health Ministry reported yesterday evening that authorities across the country had been hard on the beat clamping down on eatery smokers in lieu of the 2019 smoking ban that had taken effect this new year.
In total, 611 officers were deployed to food outlets across the country, covering over 2,700 eateries, and finding 1,453 parties guilty of flouting the ban.
Health Minsiter Dzulkefly Ahmad is satisfied with the results, telling media outlets that non-governmental groups have been instrumental in pushing the ban forward.
“We can see that this time round the movement is good as there is a visible momentum displayed by the public through social media,“ he told a press conference. The response has been very good and overwhelming.”
Social media has been flooded by images of individuals caught lighting up, and getting caught; however, images of smokers respectfully moving a designated three meters away from eating establishments have also gone viral.
Eateries have been reportedly doing their part, posting sings and stickers that iterate “No Smoking” to punters, should they have a momentary lapse of memory over the new law.
However, some are crying foul over the fresh legislation, saying that not only are “smoker’s rights” [Editor’s Notes: Not a thing, but OK] affected by the ban, but that the government should have first established designated smoking spots before going cold turkey, and also adding that Malaysia’s tourism industry will suffer.
Yet a perusal of Twitterjaya (hmm… Twitterville?) indicated that many of the country’s young welcome the ban, highlighting that the lungs of non-smokers take precedent over choices others make to light up.
Oh, and also a lot of other countries out there seem to have been able to manage a ban without affecting their visitor numbers.
Now that we’ve settled our lungs, can we circle back to stopping child marriage? Great, thanks.
