Government workers in a Malaysian state who successfully quit smoking will enjoy rewards ranging from promotions to electrical appliances and holiday vacations, a newspaper reported today.

ALI RUSTAM Malacca chief minister Mohamad Ali Rustam ( left ) said only civil servants who managed to quit within a stipulated time frame would qualify for the rewards.

"I will discuss with my senior officials on the details of the package that will be attractive for tobacco addicts in the government departments and agencies to quit smoking," he told the Star newspaper.

He said the government would set up a special committee to run the quit-smoking campaign.

"The committee will be responsible for arranging an evaluation team to monitor and authenticate that they had quit smoking," Mohamad Ali said.

Malaysia's central government has in recent years embarked on anti-smoking campaigns, including raising tobacco prices to issuing health warnings, to target its estimated 3 million smokers.

-dpa