Rokok lagi...

Matjan dah tulis pasal isu rokok, ni ha aku ada berita dari Dow Jones newswire, pasal larangan penjualan rokok.

28 Sep 2004 09:55

KUALA LUMPUR (Dow Jones)--The Malaysian government has banned the sale of small packs of cigarettes from Sept. 23 as part of anti-smoking efforts, a Health Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

"Yes, the new regulation on packs of less than 20 sticks has been gazetted," the spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires.

But he declined to elaborate, saying, "There are no details yet."

The rule is part of the Tobacco Product Control Regulations 2004, industry officials said. They added, however, that the rule may not have been implemented yet due to existing inventory.

"We are still working with the government on a compliance timeline," said a representative from one cigarette maker.

Cigarette packs of less than 20 sticks are popular with lower-income and younger consumers as they are cheaper than the bigger packs.

Malaysia has 3.6 million smokers among its 24 million population. About 20 billion sticks of duty-paid cigarettes are sold in Malaysia each year while the contraband market is estimated at 20% of the legitimate one.

The ban on small cigarette packs follows a steep increase in import and excise duty on tobacco products from Sept. 13 as part of the government's 2005 budget.

Kah! kah! kah!, padan muka korang wahai pemegang status PS!(permanent smoker)

Nasib baik aku hisap paip ja...