Sarawak Mayalsia implements soft smoke ban

Last year, on October 15th, we wrote about the new smoke ban in Malaysia, effective January first. And then on December 28th, the local government of Sarawak on Borneo, announced that the smoke law wasn’t applicable for their region as it was a decision the local government had to make.

Yesterday the minister of local government & housing, Datuk Dr. Sim Kui Hian, published an official letter announcing a watered down version of the anti-smoke regulations for the Malaysian peninsula.

From March 1st, smoking will be banned from all eateries, yet a designated smoking area no less than three meters away from the nearest table where food is served is allowed. The key word in this writing is ‘served’ and not ‘consumed’ which leaves a huge gray area in the enforcement of the new regulation. The first six months, only educational enforcement will be done, no fines will be issued.

Read the press statement above.