LETTER | In January 2022, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin announced his intention to outlaw anyone who turns 18 years old next year from buying tobacco products.

The proposal was applauded by the public health NGOs concerned over the high prevalence of tobacco consumption in Malaysia.

Despite the numerous laws introduced by the Health Ministry (MOH) since 2004, according to the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2019, there are 4.8 million smokers in 2021 vs 4.7 million smokers in 2011.

Meanwhile, despite the MOH having the power to act against cigarettes sold below the minimum retail price, six out of 10 packs are sold below the official price of RM12.00 per pack of 20 sticks.

Now, the MOH seeks to table a new law in Parliament that discriminates between adults based on their birth year.

Anyone born on or before midnight Dec 31, 2004, is allowed to buy tobacco products while anyone who had the misfortune to be born one minute later is forever banned from making an adult lifestyle choice.

Beginning from Dec 15, 2021, the legal age to vote for MPs was reduced to 18 years old, allowing adults to select their representatives in Parliament and State Assemblies but the same 18 year old will not be able to go to their local retailer to purchase a packet of tobacco products.

The older generation has always tried to control the generation after them on the basis that “I now know better”. This led to the ban on rock music and long hair in the 1980s, rap music in the 1990s, black metal in the 2000s and so on.

It is like having our school teachers scolding us for playing football in the rain and mud.

If tobacco products can be made illegal for anyone born after 2005, what prevents the MOH from extending the same prohibition to other unpopular products such as sugary drinks or alcohol.

Malaysia has the highest prevalence of obesity among adults in South-East Asia. According to the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2019, 50.1 percent of our adult population were reported to be overweight (30.4 percent) or obese (19.7 percent).

Khairy should also include a ban on sugary drinks and alcohol being consumed by adults while he is working on protecting future generations from tobacco products.

The generation end game policy institutionalises the discrimination and criminalisation of an entire generation of Malaysian adults born after 2005.

Given the lackadaisical enforcement of minimum age laws, which incidentally is also the responsibility of the MOH to enforce, there WILL be consumption even by those born after 2005.

Which retailer will ask a person who clearly looks like an adult for his NRIC during the purchase of a tobacco product?

Suddenly a person who seeks to purchase a packet of cigarettes is now a criminal and subject to penalties.

If implemented here, Malaysia will be the first country in the world to enact a generation end game law.

Even New Zealand, where the idea was proposed after years of study and public health campaigns, has yet to draft a legislation for its Parliament.

Malaysians deserve better than to be experimented with an untested policy that is entirely alien to the freedoms of being a Malaysian.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.