If Malaysia Govt is serious about the smoking ban, they need to fix this

Beginning 12.01am on 1st January 2020, the smoking ban at all eateries in Malaysia will be enforced fully. The initial ban that started this year was introduced as an “educational enforcement” to boost public awareness and to educate the public on the new restrictions at eateries. So it looks like the smoking restriction is happening for real in 2020.

Starting next year, both the smoker and the food premises will be fined RM250 for the first and second offence. For the third offence, the compound will be increased to RM350. The rules are still the same whereby smokers can only light up at least 3 metres away from the food premises.

Despite the good intention to ensure a smoke-free environment, there are still people that continue to smoke at coffee shops and it all boils down to the lack of enforcement by the local authorities.

When the smoking ban was introduced, the Ministry of Health had announced a dedicated WhatsApp hotline at 010-8609849 for the public to report cases of smokers that violate the ban. All you’ll need to do is to send details of the incident and attach evidence of the offence.

The Ministry’s WhatsApp hotline is broken

In our editorial team, Nic had reported a smoking incident on 1st September but he received no response from the Ministry’s WhatsApp number. When I tried to report a different smoking incident on 15th December, the Smoking Hotline was not even available. In each attempt, WhatsApp keeps telling me to “Invite” the user, which is a sign that the number is no longer registered. I’ve reported the WhatsApp issue to the Ministry of Health and the Minister via Twitter, but both did not respond.

When I followed up with the Ministry of Health today, they didn’t comment on the WhatsApp hotline being unavailable. Instead, they told me not to provide any photographic or video evidence of any smoking incident.

This is a big surprise considering the Ministry of Health had urged the public to provide evidence of smoking at food premises as illustrated below. Without photo or video evidence, how can the authorities investigate? How can they verify if the report is legit? Most importantly, how can the public report if the WhatsApp hotline is not even working or manned properly?

I know I’m not the only that’s frustrated with the smoking ban situation in Malaysia and there are a number of complaints of inaction when they lodge a report via the hotline. If the Ministry is not taking complaints seriously, what’s the point of asking the public to make a report? The last thing we want to hear is the excuse that enforcement is difficult without public support.

Perhaps WhatsApp is not a reliable channel and the Ministry could consider other platforms like a mobile app or they can ask people to report by email. Looking at the situation, it doesn’t look like a technology problem but the willingness of the Ministry to accept feedback and to act on it. I do hope that I’m proven wrong once the full ban is enforced at midnight.

Have you tried to report a smoking incident to 010-8609849 before? Let us know how’s your experience in the comments below.

[ IMAGE SOURCE ]

Related reading