As far as I could remember, for the past decade without fail, the taxes on cigarettes has been increased year after year. An ordinary (not passive) smoker roughly spends about RM 270 a month on his cigarettes.

For a casual labourer who earns around RM1,200 a month, RM270 for cigarettes is nearly a quarter of his pay.

Of course, the government’s excuse for the increased tax on cigarettes is to ‘discourage smoking’ and the tax is the form of a tool to reduce the population’s smoking habit.

My argument is, if the government is really serious about getting rid of smoking habit amongst its citizens, then ban cigarettes outright whether imported or local.

What is happening now is that the shops exhibit various brands of cigarettes and are thereby inviting and tempting us smokers to buy them.

Of course, the non-smokers might say that if you can’t afford to buy the cigarettes, then quit smoking altogether (an easy statement to make!) Only the smoker knows how difficult it to stop smoking.

For many of them, no money for food is okay as long as they have money to buy their cigarettes! Please do not think this as silly but it is the reality.

I am not encouraging smoking or discouraging people from quitting smoking. What I am against is the continuous punishing of smokers for their bad habit. This habit would not have been picked up by many of us if smoking was banned a long time ago.

Is the tax on cigarettes really to ‘discourage’ the smoking habit and not for any other reason? If so, then whatever tax sourced from the tobacco industry must be kept as a reserve.

This reserve must be used as medical expenses for those confirmed as smokers.

I am not encouraging smoking but would like to stress that the government should not take advantage of our weakness and at the same time make us look very guilty.