KUALA LUMPUR – The Health Ministry’s decision to drop the Generational Endgame (GEG) provision from its revised bill to regulate smoking products is evidence of the government’s lack of political will, an opposition lawmaker claimed.
Addressing the Dewan Rakyat today, where the ministry was roasted by several MPs over the removal of the GEG provision from the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023, Datuk Radzi Jidin (Putrajaya-PN) asked why the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ (AGC) stance that the provision is unconstitutional was only made known recently despite the bill having gone through earlier revisions.
“Why was the issue of unconstitutionality not raised previously? If you want to talk about the risk (of the GEG) being challenged in court, it’s a norm that when a bill on a sensitive matter is presented to the cabinet, the AGC will advise that there is a possibility of the matter being challenged (in court).
“But the government must have the political will and the need to enforce change. Even the anti-party hopping law can be challenged in court, so this is nothing new,” the Bersatu MP said when debating the bill during its second reading today.
Alleging that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (Tambun-PH) had supported the GEG provision when tabling Budget 2023, Radzi asked why the prime minister had said so if the government was aware of the AGC’s views.
“Is the health minister’s ‘U-turn’ on the GEG (clause) truly because of how it can be challenged in court? Before the (previous version of the) bill (in 2022) was tabled in the Dewan Rakyat, it must have been brought to the cabinet and would have had to go through the AGC,” Radzi said.
“When the previous health minister (Khairy Jamaluddin) tabled the (2022) bill in Parliament for the first reading last year on July 20 and for the second reading on August 1, I’m sure that matters relating to the law were already considered.”
Radzi also noted that the Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC) on Health that reviewed the 2022 version of the bill agreed that the GEG clause does not go against the federal constitution, a view shared by some legal experts.
“Some of the committee members are still in the Dewan today and are now part of the government – Pengerang (Law Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said), Sibuti (Deputy Health Minister Datuk Lukanisman Awang Sauni), Kuching (Dr Kelvin Yii), Kuala Selangor (Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad), and Tuaran (Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau).”
The new bill, excluding the GEG, was tabled for its second reading in Parliament today. Previous versions with the GEG provision were submitted to the PSSC twice – once in 2022 under the Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob administration and again this year under Anwar’s leadership.
Besides that, Radzi also slammed Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa for saying that it is vital for the bill to be passed quickly to cover the enforcement gap after nicotine was removed from the Poisons Act 1952, effective April 1 of this year.
“I’d like to remind the minister that this gap exists not because of anyone else, but because of you. You were the one who signed off on nicotine’s exemption from the Poisons Act before a law was passed to control the sale and advertising of nicotine in vape liquids.
“From April 1 to today, can you imagine that our children have been consuming vape liquids with nicotine because of legal gaps created by the minister herself? Do you (Zaliha) not feel guilty?” Radzi said.
The government had removed the substance from the list of scheduled poisons in order to begin collecting excise duty on nicotine-containing vape liquids at 40 sen/ml.
Radzi’s fellow Bersatu lawmaker Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal (Machang-PN) also launched similar accusations, calling the current bill “toothless” without the GEG provision, which sought a lifetime ban on tobacco and vape products for anyone born on or after January 1, 2007.
Accusing the government of caving in to demands from the tobacco and vape industries, the Bersatu Youth chief said that Perikatan Nasional (PN) would not support anything that could potentially harm the nation’s future.
“I know that many in the vape business are Malay youths who have messaged us asking for help. No, this is not a Malay or youth issue, this is about public safety. Just because you’re Malay, you want to ask us to support destroying the rakyat’s future.
“Neither I nor PN will support matters that put our children’s future at risk,” he added.
Several other PN lawmakers also criticised the health ministry over the GEG’s exclusion, as did government backbenchers R. Yuneswaran (Segamat-PH) and Hassan Abdul Karim (Pasir Gudang-PH), who said the government had allowed the tobacco and vape lobby to “win”.
Yesterday, Zaliha said that the AGC’s advice on the unconstitutionality of the GEG provision is the only reason why the clause was dropped from the bill.
She said this amid claims by certain quarters, including her predecessor Khairy Jamaluddin, that the GEG’s exclusion from the bill is due to pressure on the government from the tobacco and vape industries.
Previously, the AGC said that it has consistently been of the legal view that the GEG can be challenged in court as it violates Article 8 of the federal constitution on equality before the law by creating legal discrimination between someone born before the stipulated date and those born on or after the date. – November 29, 2023