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I refer to the Malaysiakini report PM slashes spending in Budget 2010 .

I wish to express my sincere thanks to our prime minister for the generous budget and showing the government’ commitment towards the development of our young children beginning from pre-school early education.

This through the various programmes introduced including Permata, crèches at workplaces, the right to preparing them to ensure better opportunities for employment and making available various ‘carrots’ to encourage and enable them to acquire knowledge without financial constraints to the parents.

All this just to ensure that our children will be groomed and will be sustained as our assets for the family, community and country.

But Mr Prime Minister, with all of the generous budget and with all the good intention, I fear many of our kids will become like a ‘Sazali’, the child character in local-made film ‘Anakku Sazali’.

The late P Ramlee had informed us then vividly and directly of the negative outcome of unrestricted pandering by a father onto the son that ended as a misgiving for both the parent and the son.

I am referring specifically to the evils of smoking. While the budget aims to increase the nation’s wealth, what is the point when there are no restrictions of the availability and affordability of cigarettes to both the children and parents, especially to the lower-income parents?

The ill-effects of cigarette-smoking was mentioned during the RTM’s live broadcast of the launch of the ‘Kempen Kenali Anak Kita’ whereby it was revealed that 99% of drug addicts were initially smokers.

The patron of the campaign, our beloved ex-first lady Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamed Ali, emphasised at the following press conference that was also televised that parents must not smoke because their children would pick up the habit.

At the international level, the World Health Organisation and the World Bank have been providing countries worldwide, including Malaysia, with guidelines on how to work successfully to eradicate diseases and improve the living condition of their populations.

Unfortunately, most governments have not taken heed of WHO’s and World Bank’s tobacco control recommendations seriously. In spite of the effort by our Health Ministry, our policy- makers are forever justifying their non-compliance to the guidelines whilst most smokers who are addicted to nicotine selfishly continue to undermine the health of the others around them including their owned loved ones.

So, Mr Prime Minister, please ensure that all the money that is going to be spent to make ‘our children our assets’ will also include expenditure on anti-smoking programmes.

This effort is needed to match the tobacco industry’s marketing strategy which has for decades been ‘Today’s teenager is our is our future customer’.

The writer is president, MyWatch.

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