Malaysian smoking ban not applicable in parts of Borneo

Last October we published an article about the new anti-smoke legislation in Malaysia. Smoking in the so-called coffeeshops, most westerners would say foodcourts, would be banned from January first. But not in the state of Sarawak, in the northwest part of Borneo.

The local government has made it clear that the law has not been adopted in their own local government ordinance and yet doesn’t apply to Sarawak until they do.

Malaysia is expected to enforce the smoking ban at all eateries, air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned, including restaurants, coffee shops, open-air hawker centres, and street stalls from Jan 1 next year. Breaking the ban will cost 10,000 RM (approximately 2100 Euro), and establishments not enforcing the ban can get fined 2500 RM.

If or when the Sarawak government is adopting the federal law is yet unknown, but until then it’s still happy smoking for our friends of the Kuching Cigar Crew.