Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (Usim) will enforce the ban on the use of electronic cigarette or vape in the campus from Jan 1 next year.

Vice-chancellor Prof Dr Musa Ahmad said the guideline on the ban of vape usage in the campus would be issued in the middle of next month.

“At the Usim level the Legal Office and Students’ Affairs Division are asked to prepare the guideline on the vape ban and law enforcement by the Security Department to ensure the USIM campus is cigarette and vape free,” he said in a statement in Nilai today.

He said disciplinary action and fines could be imposed against students who violated the regulations.

“Usim is taking the apporach that the 37th Fatwa Committee of the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs that convened on March 23, 1995 has discussed the issue to prohibit smoking and agreed that smoking is illegal from the Islamic point of view as it is harmful,” he said.

He said the ban enforcement was in line with the recent statement by Higher Education Minister Idris Jusoh that gazetted public universities as restricted areas for the use of vape.

- Bernama