The Malaysian Women’s Action for Tobacco Control & Health (MyWatch) welcomes the government’s announcement in increasing tobacco tax by 40 percent. We say Syabas for the substantial increase!

There are about 4.7 million smokers in Malaysia, half of whom will die prematurely. Unfortunately most of them are still in their productive years. Clearly more needs to be done to reduce smoking and tax increase is one of the most effective ways.

From our activities with children we know that they still have access to cigarettes because the prices were still affordable. It is also impossible for the authorities to monitor 80,000 shops to ensure they do not sell to children - clearly the retailers are not complying.

About one third of adolescent boys aged 13-15 years in Malaysia are smoking. Although only a small percentage of adult women smoke (1 percent), however five times as many teenage girls are smoking.

This is a high figure considering there is minimum price for cigarettes. Minimum price alone is not enough as a deterrent to discourage children from getting hold of cigarettes.

The government is completely justified to increase tobacco tax substantially because the international recommended standard is 70 percent of the retail cigarette price and Malaysia’s rates were far from that standard.

In July this year, the WHO and the World Bank said there is still much to be done to reduce smoking and taxing tobacco is the least expensive and the most effective tool in the fight against this deadly product. By raising the cost of tobacco, we can prevent widespread illness and suffering, and save millions of lives every year.

In the 2016 budget the finance minister gave a zero-rating for medicines for smoking-related illnesses such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes. While cheaper medicines is welcomed, however preventive measures such as tax increase on a carcinogenic product is just as important, if not more important.

We must do all we can to ensure children don’t start smoking because if they don’t start till they are 21 years old, chances are they won’t smoke at all.

Part of the tobacco tax should be used to educate the public about the dangers of smoking. Currently there is insufficient public education. Doing the bare minimum is simply not enough to bring smoking rates down quickly.

Expectedly the tobacco industry is grumbling about the tax increase but it never mentions anything about the profits it enjoys from cigarettes smoked by children. Besides it is the smokers who pay the tax and not the companies.

The next step for the government is to increase the purchasing age of cigarettes from 18 to 21 years. New York and Hawaii have already done this. After all, prevention is better than cure.

HATIJAH AYOB is the president, Malaysian Women’s Action for Tobacco Control and Health (MyWatch).