Liow: New rules for cigarettes

PUTRAJAYA: Come Sept 1, all discounts in the sale of cigarettes will be banned and only 20-stick cigarette packs will be allowed for sale in Malaysia.

This is part of a new directive issued by the Health Ministry to standardize cigarette pack sizes with RM7 as the minimum retail price.

“All (cigarette) manufacturers will only be allowed to sell cigarettes in a 20-stick pack and every carton of cigarettes may only contain 10 packs each.

“The minimum (retail) price for cigarettes was announced last year but we want to standardise the number of sticks per pack to strengthen our enforcement of the (Control of Tobacco Product) Regulations (2004),” Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said in a press conference at his ministry here on Tuesday.

Earlier, Liow unveiled former national shuttler Wong Mew Choo and singer Ikhwal Hafiz Ismail as the new faces of the ASAP Smoke-Free Lifestyle campaign.

As campaign ambassadors, Wong and Ikhwal are expected to promote the campaign through various channels including at press conferences, Facebook and Twitter.

“I hope I can encourage the young, especially women, to distance themselves from deadly habits (such as smoking),” said Wong.

Ikhwal added: “I have seen the terrible implications of smoking when my grandfather suffered and died of lung cancer. I hope this campaign can bring awareness to the public.”