88pc Malaysians believe plain packaging will increase illegal cigarette levels — Malaysia Singapore Coffee Shop Proprietors’ General Association
Malaysia has faced the issue of illegal cigarettes for a number of years and despite the best efforts of government enforcement agencies, the situation is getting worse with almost half of the cigarettes consumed in Malaysia today coming from the black market.
Ho Su Mong, president of the MSCSPGA, stated that illegal cigarettes are costing retailers over RM500 million in lost income every year.
“It’s already very difficult for our members and with the significant increase in illegal cigarettes, the situation is worsening and we have serious concerns for the future of retailers”, Ho said.
According to Ho, the market has been flooded with illegal cigarettes since last year’s large increase in cigarette excise tax and he expressed concern that plain packaging would make the problem much worse.
Plain packaging means that all cigarette packs will look the same thus making it very difficult for retailers, consumers and enforcement agencies to differentiate between a legal and illegal pack.
In May, MSCSPGA commissioned a public survey to better understand Malaysians’ views on this issue. Based on the survey, 81 per cent of Malaysians believe that plain packaging will make it easier for illegal cigarette smugglers to produce fake packs and 88 per cent said that plain packaging will cause smokers to turn to the black market where they can easily access cheap illegal packs.
The survey also showed that 87 per cent of the Malaysians surveyed are concerned with the current levels of crime in Malaysia and 65 per cent expressed concern that plain packaging will lead to an increase in criminal activity in Malaysia. At the same time, 78 per cent believe that youth have easy access to cheap illegal cigarettes.
“A vast majority of Malaysians (87 per cent) believe that Malaysia today has a problem with black market illegal cigarettes and more than half oppose the introduction of plain packaging as it has the potential of further increasing the levels of illegal cigarettes in Malaysia. This is consistent with what we are hearing from our members who are very concerned about the impact of the growing illicit cigarette levels on their businesses.
“We understand and respect the government’s objective to reduce smoking. However, with almost half of the cigarettes in Malaysia being sold as cheap as RM3.50, we appeal to the government to focus on controlling the widespread illegal cigarettes, rather than introducing regulations that will make the problem worse.
“Malaysia has a unique and worrying situation with illegal cigarettes and whilst other countries may be considering measures such as plain packaging, Malaysia needs solutions that make sense for our country and the challenges we are facing today,” Ho said.
Ho commended the government’s recent introduction ofmQuit programme, a “quit smoking service” to help smokers quit smoking and he believes the programme would achieve the Government’s target to reduce tobacco consumption.
Ho acknowledges that their core business is food and beverages, but he believes that consumers will still buy cigarettes elsewhere if his members did not sell them, with many turning to the black market.
Ho and his members hope and appeal to the Government that they would be provided with the opportunity to discuss these measures as they believe that a two-way communication is more effective to achieve better outcomes.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.
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