Lawyer files judicial review against govt, MOH over office smoking ban

Summary

• Lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla files judicial review over the smoking ban in offices.

• The Malaysian government and Health Ministry are named as defendants.

• Starting today, offices and eateries are listed as no-smoking zones.

Lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla has filed a judicial review over the smoking ban in offices that begins today.

He named the government as the first defendant and the Health Ministry as the second in his online filing yesterday.

“I have also informed my clients that they can come here and retrieve their case files if they do not like dealing with lawyers who smoke cigarettes in the office,” he told Sinar Harian.

Haniff said he made the judicial review application in a personal capacity as he fully owns his office, and the new provisions now make smoking in his own office illegal.

New no-smoking zones, heavier penalties

In October, Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said that laundrettes and office buildings would become no-smoking zones under the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 starting Jan 1, 2025.

The law includes regulations governing the registration, sale, packaging, and labelling of tobacco products, and the prohibition of smoking in public places.

The act imposes stricter requirements on cigarette and vape retailers, including a ban on openly displaying these products on business premises.

For a first offence, a fine not exceeding RM20,000 or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both may be imposed. However, for subsequent offences, those flouting the law can be fined a maximum of RM30,000 or a capped jail term of two years, or both.

‘Smoking is still legal’

Meanwhile, Haniff said he had sent the health minister a letter on Nov 29 requesting to exempt his office from the ban but this was denied as the law does not allow exclusions.

He said he sent the letter because he is a heavy smoker and wishes for others to not interfere with his life.

“I do not force my workers and clients to take in cigarette smoke. In fact, the act of smoking is still legal and permissible according to the current civil laws in Malaysia.

“So please don’t make the practice of smoking in my workplace and personal space illegal,” he said.

He added that he had placed a notice outside his office since last October to inform people that his office is a smoking zone.

‘Unconstitutional’ GEG

Further, Haniff said he had previously challenged the smoking ban in eateries.

He pointed to the government’s withdrawal of provisions related to the tobacco and vape ban based on age, commonly referred to as the “generational end-game” (GEG), from the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023.

This was done on the advice of the attorney-general, who opined that those who would be affected by the GEG had already been born before the bill was even drafted, Haniff said.

“So now the issue is that I have been allowed to smoke since I started smoking in 1986.

“So why does the Health Ministry want to stop me from smoking in my personal space? I do not disturb other people,” he said.

According to CodeBlue, then attorney-general Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh was of the opinion that the GEG provisions were “unconstitutional” because they violated Article 8 of the Federal Constitution, which guaranteed equality before the law.

This was because the provisions provided two sets of laws for two different age groups, a source told the health news portal.

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