src='https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-2513966551258002'/> Rightways Infolinks.com, 2618740 , RESELLER

Pages

Share This

Saturday, July 30, 2022

Weaker ringgit raises concerns

 

Paying more: A file picture showing a truck passing by stacked containers. The ringgit’s loss of value against the US and Singapore dollar attracts attention, considering that Singapore is Malaysia’s second largest import source, next to China while the United States is the fourth largest import source, according to economists. — Bloomberg

Economists call for the preservation of fiscal and debt sustainability THE weakening ringgit against the currencies of two of Malaysia’s largest …

Read more on thestar.com.my

 Weaker ringgit raises concerns - The Star

Are exporters making a killing from the low rate? - The Star

Are exporters making a killing from the low rate?

Are exporters making a killing from the low rate? | Economy

Weaker ringgit raises concerns - KLSE Screener

Fed aiming for soft landing | The Star


US economy shrank 0.9% last quarter, its second straight drop: Experts


Is the falling yen a cause for concern? - The Star

 

Is the falling Japanese yen cause for concern?


 

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Rise and fall of Tedy's empire, King of money games dethroned

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Entrepreneur, philanthropist, get-rich-quick ‘hero’ wanted in M’sia and China

He lorded over a mighty empire – hotels, restaurants, agro parks, housing estates with fancy theme parks, the sprawling M Mall – and even had his own digital currency Mcoin. But big man Tedy Teow has fallen hard. Caught in Thailand for money-laundering, the MBI boss now faces criminal action in three countries.

GEORGE TOWN: He once lorded over much of Penang as the “King of money games”. But how the mighty has fallen.

Tedy Teow, the founder of MBI – Mobility Beyond Imagination – can now start imagining himself being restricted in prison cells in three different countries, all of which want him for questioning over several money-laundering cases.

ALSO READ: Malaysian billionaire businessman held in Thailand

It’s a far cry from his glory days. Then, he ruled over an “Mpire” that had pretty much everything – housing development, malls, a chain of hotels, an ehailing service and even its own brand of smartphones.

Not bad for a kid who had started out selling pencils, exercise books and combs.

ALSO READ: Thailand to deport fugitive Tedy Teow

His MBI was also on top of the money game world.

It was during a time when there were plenty of get-rich-quick schemes in Penang which prom

It was during a time when there were plenty of get-rich-quick schemes in Penang which promised high returns – JJ Poor To Rich (JJPTR), Richway Global Venture, Mama Captain, and Change Your Life (CYL) – but MBI was the darling of them all.

Teow had a large following here particularly with the hawkers, self-employed professionals and ordinary folk who wanted to make a fast buck.

ALSO READ: Police apply to repatriate ex-fugitive Teow from Thai custody

“He was my hero. I made a few thousand ringgit monthly from my investment in MBI then. But eventually, I lost it all after I doubled my investment, only to see the company collapsing later on,” said hawker BK Khor, 58.

While many heaped praise on the big man, some also nearly lost their life savings when MBI was red-flagged by authorities in 2019.

A technician at a factory in Bayan Lepas free-trade zone, who wanted to be known only as James, said he learnt about the scheme through one of his friends.

“This was about four years ago. After earning a profit each month for about one year, I put in everything I had. I was lucky to break even in the end,” he said.

From glory to gloom: The M Mall, which was once bustling with activity (below), now stands practically abandoned along Jalan Datuk Keramat in Penang. — CHAN BOON KAI/The Star 

From glory to gloom: The M Mall, which was once bustling with activity (below), now stands practically abandoned along Jalan Datuk Keramat in Penang. — CHAN BOON KAI/The Star

Fast-forward to today, Teow is now in custody in Thailand and awaiting deportation after he was arrested in Songkhla last Friday. And both Malaysia and China want him in their hands.

The Malaysian police are applying for a repatriation exercise for Teow to return to the country to assist in investigations under Section 420 for cheating.

Beijing police also reportedly want him for questioning. This is after a suit filed end of last year by about 400 investors from China to recover investments worth some RM100mil.

In 2019, about 100 Chinese nationals staged a peaceful protest outside the Chinese embassy in Kuala Lumpur to complain that they had been cheated by an online pyramid scheme operated by MBI.

Coincidentally, it was in China that Teow got his “second shot at life” according to a YouTube video released in 2013.

Titled The Story of MBI International’s Boss, the video was a biography of Teow as an enterprising schoolboy in the 1970s, bringing pencils, exercise books, combs and assorted items to sell in his school. 


The video also described Teow’s view of great potential in the franchising industry, which led him to start his beverage company called “Island Red Cafe” in 2008.

The company boasted having the best and trendiest coffee culture in the country but it was actually little more than just a chain of coffee shops.

Anyone interested could invest in the company. A year later, many shareholders stopped getting their returns. And police reports were lodged.

In 2011, Teow and his son Chee Chow were sentenced to a day’s jail and fined RM160,000 after admitting to two counts of cheating and misleading investors of more than RM1mil in the Island Red Cafe scheme in 2010.

Not long after came MBI. It took Penang by storm with offers of “lucrative” returns and was big news in 2015.

Teow was then director of Mface International Bhd and MBI Marketing Sdn Bhd, two companies under the MBI group.

The company set up M Mall 020 in Jalan Datuk Keramat as its headquarters. The mall had several convenience stores which sold its own brand of body lotions, shampoo products and general trading.

Members could use digital currency called Mcoin to buy and redeem stuff from M Mall.

The company even launched its own line of MBI International smartphones then.

MBI also had a chain of hotels including one in Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah and a Chinese restaurant in Jelutong. It also operated an e-hailing service called MULA car.

MBI’s popularity skyrocketed and there was a huge development project next to the Penang International Airport called Mpire Residences being proposed. It never materialised.

The company spread its wings to Kedah with a housing project in Kulim called MBI Desaku.

Teow turned philanthropist when he set up MBI Charity 100, a social responsibility effort by MBI Group to help the poor and the needy. The objective was to hold 999 charity events each year.

But in 2017, Teow’s world came crashing down. M Mall was raided by police, while 91 bank accounts linked to MBI International were frozen. The accounts held RM177mil.

Teow would later face two charges of issuing unrecognised payment instruments. In 2018, he was fined RM2.5mil and RM3mil by Bank Negara for financial irregularities.

Last year, police said Teow and his two sons were also involved in a Macau scam totalling up to RM336mil.

Teow’s family has not been spared, too. His son was held at knifepoint after three Chinese nationals broke into the family’s house looking for him for a refund.

The intruders fled but not before dropping two fake bombs in the house.

But now, the real bombshell has fallen. Teow is under police custody. But his story has surely not ended yet. 

 Source link'  

US pushes chip bill to encircle China, but ‘unable to lure firms to decouple with mainland’

 

US 'Chips Alliance' scheme will exacerbate global chip crunch. Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

 

A chip manufacture machine Photo: VCG

A chip manufacture machine Photo: VCG

 

The US Senate on Wednesday passed a chip bill that is intended to counter China's high-tech rise under the guise of shoring up US competitiveness and protecting national security, a "dream" that is very difficult to achieve considering problems like mounting debts and industrial hollowing-out in the world's largest economy, experts said.

r countries and regions that have been kidnapped by the US bill to secede their chip supply chains from China, some might make symbolic gestures to follow the US orders but postpone real actions, like setting factories in the US, because what the US is pushing runs counter to their tangible benefits, observers noted.

The bill, aimed at boosting US semiconductor production, passed the US Senate 64-33 on Wednesday and will move to the House and US President Joe Biden for approval, US media reported.

The package, known as "CHIPS-plus," includes about $52 billion of funding for US companies making computer chips, a provision that offers a tax credit for investment in chip production, as well as funding to spur innovation and development of other US technologies, the report noted.

Although US officials have used many expressions to justify the bill, like economic security, national security or "America's future," its real intention of containing China's development has nowhere to hide judging from the bill's requirement for companies to pick only one of two choices - business ties with China, or subsidies from the US government.

The legislation would prohibit companies from expanding their semiconductor manufacturing in China for 10 years after they take a grant to build a US plant, Bloomberg reported on July 18. Companies could continue to invest in "legacy" chip manufacturing in China, but the definition of that term is unresolved.

"The US is using the bill to force companies in countries and regions of key status on the global chip supply and industrial chains to play by US rules, as well as encircling and suppressing chip industries in emerging markets," Wang Peng, a research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in Beijing, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the bill is aimed at containing China's development and putting the US on a more competitive footing with China in the technological edge.

Stuck in difficult position

As US officials mount efforts to push the bill toward passage, which experts interpreted as shifting from a "stick" approach by forcing companies to leave China to a "carrot" tactic with subsidies as bait. Chip companies, either in the US or in other countries and regions, are finding themselves in the difficult position of having to take sides.

A CNBC report noted that the CHIPS act has elicited divided responses from the US chip industry, as some players are concerned that the bill could provide disproportionate support to manufacturers like Intel while doing little to support other chip firms that do not produce chips by themselves.

But even companies like Intel are not one hundred percent satisfied with the bill. According to a report from Politico, Intel and other chipmakers are lobbying to curtail limitations on their operations in China.

Experts stressed that large US chip companies always know that globalized distribution is the best option for them, as the mode has supported their business growth over many years.

"If companies build plants in the US, where do they get cheap labor and construction materials from? How do they cover their factory operating expenses? Why build a factory where the end market is far away?" questioned Ma Jihua, a veteran technology analyst.

Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Beijing-based Information Consumption Alliance, said on Wednesday that for some large US companies, getting the subsidies and giving up the Chinese market will mean more losses than gains. For instance, Intel is unlikely to completely give up the Chinese market, which accounts for 20 to 30 percent of its entire annual revenue.

For US allies like Japan and South Korea, whose semiconductor industrial chains are deeply integrated with the Chinese mainland market, the situation is even more difficult.

"If they listen to the US, their companies might get tens of billions of dollars from the US, but they will lose hundreds of billions of dollars or even more due to decoupling with the mainland markets," Ma said.

They will not only lose Chinese chip customers, but could also see spillover effects on other products as well, similar to how South Korean companies suffered in Chinese mainland market after the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) crisis, the expert said.

Ma anticipates that Japan is prone to saying yes to Biden but would not cut its cooperation with China in reality, while South Korea is likely to face severe opposition from its large chipmakers.

Xiang said that enterprises from Japan and South Korea may make some symbolic adjustments under this bill, like building factories in the US, but they may repeatedly postpone such investments because of the high cost of the technology.

The US proposed the idea of the "Chip 4" semiconductor alliance and sent invitations to Japan, South Korea and China's Taiwan island. Though South Korea may ultimately join the bloc, Seoul's long hesitation to give a clear answer is evident of its dilemma.

Plan invalid

Experts said that the effect of the US chip bill may not meet the US' anticipation in reshaping the world's semiconductor supply chains, in which China now play an important role in producing parts.

For example, Gao Lingyun from CASS said that the overall cost of making chips in the US is not very competitive on the global market, primarily due to its high labor cost, although it might have strong abilities in upstream industrial sections like research and development.

"Past experience showed that efforts to set up a chip facility in the US, for example the US plant of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), has progressed slowly, which further underscores the difficulty of setting up chip factories in the US," he told the Global Times.

Other factors are straining the US as well, such as mounting debts that are restricting Washington's abilities to materialize subsidies, their manufacturing hollowing-out that leads to insufficiency in everything from workers to materials, as well as the fact that the US might soon have another president, analysts said.

According to Ma, there could be two results with the passage of the bill. First, it will not be implemented properly. Second, the US government could return to the "stick" approach if it receives scant support from companies. If the second way becomes reality, the world's semiconductor industry, which is already facing downward pressure, might enter a dark period with many companies going bankrupt, he said.

A worker checks a chip at Jade Bird Fire Co in Zhangjiakou, North China's Hebei Province, on March 27, 2022. Jade Bird makes firefighting products. Its self-developed Zhuhuan chip, which integrates fire detection capability, communication technology and integrated circuit technology, is widely used in China. Photo: VCGA worker checks a chip at Jade Bird Fire Co in Zhangjiakou, North China's Hebei Province, on March 27, 2022. Jade Bird makes firefighting products. Its self-developed Zhuhuan chip, which integrates fire detection capability, communication technology and integrated circuit technology, is widely used in China. Photo: VCG

China's rise

Despite US attempts to reshape the world's chip supply chains to a US-led one, China's chip industry is developing in a stable manner, be it the technologies or the markets, inspiring confidence among analysts that China will make breakthroughs in key chip technologies in about three to five years.

According to South Korean Customs statistics, South Korea's exports to China totaled $13.4 billion in May this year, while imports reached $14.9 billion, showing a deficit on the South Korean side for the first time, electronics information portal ijiwei.com reported.

One important stimulus for the situation is that China's exports of semiconductor products, which account for about one-sixth of the country's total exports to South Korea, surged 40.9 percent in the month, data provided by the Korea International Trade Association showed.

Besides, the rising popularity of China's electronic products like mobile phones has boosted demand for domestic chip products. For example, Chinese mobile phone brand Xiaomi recently launched a phone equipped with a China-made chip JR510, according to media reports.

On the technology side, Chinese companies are also making rapid progress. The country's chip giant Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) said it had made a breakthrough in the first generation FinFET technology and entered mass production in Q4 of 2019, while the tech's second generation, rendered equivalent to the 7nm and 5nm manufacturing process of TSMC, is also in a period of pilot production.

SMIC's profits surged 147.7 percent on a yearly basis in 2021 in yuan's terms, the company's annual report showed.

According to Ma, China's sense of urgency for chip industrial independence has enhanced a lot over recent years. This is giving rise to strengthened input, from the industrial, research and university sides, into the industry, bringing positive results such as a surge in chip product categories from hundreds to thousands.

In terms of technologies, China is also "leaping in progress," he said, adding that though China still has several technological bottlenecks to break through, it should be able to solve those bottlenecks after 3-5 years of stable development.

Xiang predicted that the large-scale storage in China's chip industry will start in 2023, as compared with chips from Europe, the US and South Korea, China's domestic chips are of good quality, priced about 60 percent lower than that of other countries.

"In a sense, Chinese companies already have the ability to produce high-end chips, and they just need time to achieve mass production. The US chip blockade for China has in turn greatly facilitated the development of the country's chip industry," Xiang said. 

 Source link'  

RELATED ARTICLES
 

Tuesday, July 26, 2022

CHINA ADDS SECOND SCIENCE LABORATORY TO ORBITING SPACE STATION

 28 countries applied to join the China space station, why is only the US rejected?

 The China space station is about to be completed. The United States claims to be censoring the China space station. What secrets are hidden behind this? The United States stated: To review China's space station, China can cooperate with the United States only if it meets American standards. This remark really shocked everyone. Why should the space station developed by China be reviewed by others? What's more, should this be the other way around? What's more, shouldn't the United States hope to reach cooperation with the Chinese space station, rather than China begging the United States to participate in cooperation? So, how does China respond to the U.S. rhetoric? 


Before the end of this year, China will complete the construction of the space station. The Chinese Space Administration has announced that the Chinese space station will be open to countries around the world. Now 17 countries have become the first partners of the Chinese space station (including India), and they will board the Chinese space station for scientific research and exploration. Of course, the US is the only exception.

The United States has been clamoring for fierce competition with China, and China is now showing the United States what true competition is in all areas. 

 

 Shenzhou-14 crew enters Wentian lab module, as China's space station is near completion

 

The Shenzhou-14 crew members, Chen Dong (center), Liu Yang (right) and Cai Xuzhe salute from the Wentian (Quest to The Heavens) lab module on July 25, 2022 from some 400 kilometers above the Earth. The three taikonauts checked in to their office and home unit in space at 10:03 am. Photo: cnsphoto

The Shenzhou-14 crew of three taikonauts, who watched live the epic launch of the Wentian [Quest to The Heavens] lab module from some 400 kilometers above the Earth and cheered it on with applause on Sunday, did not wait long to check into their office and home unit in space, as they opened the gate of the freshly docked new module and entered the Wentian at 10:03 am on Monday, the Global Times learned from the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

It was a historic first that the taikonauts entered the scientific lab module in orbit, the CMSA noted in a statement it provided to the Global Times on Monday morning, while disclosing that the crew shall execute missions including space station combination attitude control, verification of robotic arms, and use of the Wentian airlock and its small robotic arm to perform spacewalks under the plan.

The Wentian lab module conducted a smooth rendezvous and docking with the China Space Station's Tianhe core module at the front port at 3:13 am on Monday, some 13 hours after it was launched via a giant Long March-5B carrier rocket from South China's tropical island province of Hainan.

It was a first for two pieces of 20-ton level spacecraft to execute the "heavenly kiss" in the country's history, and it also marked an unprecedented milestone event that took place while the China Space Station combination was carrying taikonauts onboard, the CMSA announced.

Before China, only the former Soviet Union and the US were capable of assembling ultra-large spacecraft in orbit.

Designed mainly to support space science and biology experiments, the 23-ton Wentian lab module is heavier than any other single-module spacecraft currently in space, including those with the International Space Station (ISS), the Global Times learned from the mission contractor, the state-owned space giant China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC).

The Wentian also hosts eight experimental cabinets onboard. It will mainly focus on the study of space life sciences, which can support the growth, development, genetics and aging of multiple species of plants, animals and microorganisms under space conditions, Lü Congmin, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and deputy chief designer of the space utilization system of China Manned Space programs, told the Global Times.

More than 10 research directions have been planned and more than 40 scientific projects have been established for the Wentian, Lü said.

To meet the high energy requirements for the large number of scientific experiments in space, the Wentian is equipped with a pair of the largest flexible solar panels that the country has ever developed.

The full wingspan of the solar panels on the Wentian is more than 55 meters, longer than half a soccer field, and each panel has an unfolded area of about 110 square meters. Photo: Courtesy of CASC

The full wingspan of the solar panels on the Wentian is more than 55 meters, longer than half a soccer field, setting a new record for solar panels used for China's spacecraft. Each panel has an unfolded area of about 110 square meters, the Global Times learned from the developers.

The two solar panels will effectively collect more solar energy, generating an average of more than 430 kilowatt hours per day and providing sufficient power for space station operations. If placed on Earth, the daily power generation of the solar panels would be enough to support the power demand of an average Beijing household for a month and a half.

During the "heavenly kiss," the enormous wings of the Wentian unfolded in two stages by plan, where the solar panels were only partially unfolded to sustain the power supply needed during the docking and became fully unfolded afterwards, which was done to avoid any damage from the impact of two giant modules with fully unfolded wings.

Explaining to the Global Times, the solar panel system developer, the Shanghai Academy of Spacecraft Technology, said that if the Wentian's wings were unfolded all at once, it would be approaching the Tianhe core module with one giant sail on each side. In that case, even trivial shaking of the sail would affect the control precision of the velocity, relative location and attitude control of the Wentian, so that it would add difficulties to its safe rendezvous and docking with the Tianhe module.

The Global Times learned from the Second Academy of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC) that microwave radar developed by the academy's 25th institute also played a guiding role in the rendezvous and docking process.

Also, the Wentian is equipped with a urine recycling system developed by the CASIC's second academy Institute 206, the second of its kind onboard the China Space Station combination. The first was installed on the Tianhe core module and successfully supported the space stays of the Shenzhou-12 and -13 crews. The urine recycling system on the Wentian will serve as a backup for the Tianhe, the CASIC told the Global Times.

According to the official plan, the Mengtian, another space lab, will be launched in October.

And before that, the Wentian will move to the right side of the Tianhe core cabin, forming an L-shaped structure, China Space News, the official joint news outlet of the China Aerospace Science and the Technology Corp and the China Academy of Space Technology, reported. For this to happen, the Shenzhou-14 taikonauts will perform three complex steering maneuvers to adjust the Wentian to a vertical position with the help of the robotic arm.

In the coming months, people on Earth will be able to witness the construction of the China Space Station, which will be completed at a speed that has no precedent in mankind's history.

The first ever space station in history, the Salyut 1, launched by the former Soviet Union, had its core module delivered into orbit in 1986. In 10 years' time, the station completed the assembly of six modules with a total weight of 130 tons.

Construction began on the ISS in 1998 and took 12 years, with the coordination of 15 countries, to build its 15-module structure.

The China Space Station is planned to become fully operational before the end of 2022, aiming to accomplish the in-orbit assembly of the country's most ambitious program in less than one year and a half since the launch of the Tianhe core module in April 2021. 

Source link'  

RELATED ARTICLES
 
Science
A recent report by US magazine The National Interest demonized China's achievements in space by interpreting China's space exploration missions, including the lunar program and manned spaceflight, as "threats to US leadership in space" and a "detriment to US national security." This report is just the tip of iceberg in the US' sustained attempts to suppress and discredit China's space program. The US has also published military reports that incorrectly describe China's military capabilities in space, with the new NASA chief personally slandering China's space achievements, to promote the mindset of a new Cold War in space and the "China threat" theory. But facts show that the US is the biggest threat in space with its space hegemony based on its technological advantages. Meanwhile, China sees space as a new field to expand international cooperation while sharing its achievements with other countries by providing them with opportunities to make use of space resources.
 

 

Related posts

 

US versus China – in outer space

 

Tiangong-2 space lab draws global praise, with the world’s first “cold” atomic clock on board 

 

China successfully launches 1st Mars probe 

 

China unveils its 2020 Mars probe, Tianwen-1 天問一号

 

 Chinese home in space

 

China launches 1st lunar sample return mission, aims for multiple breakthroughs in aerospace history 

 

China's Chang'e-4 spacecraft, a world's first mission to moon's far side, boosts Beijing a space superpower

 

Long March-5 rocket in position for China's first Mars probe

 

China’s Zhurong sends back signals, marking success of Tianwen-1's landing on Mars

 

China lands on far side of the moon

 

Lunar probe, eliminating poverty, China did both

 

 

Mission to turn China into talent hub

 Shanghai seeks to attract overseas talents

Saturday, July 23, 2022

'SAY YES TO ANTI-SMOKING LAW'

NGOS call for serious support to curb addiction, save lives

The lines have been drawn over the proposed Tobacco and Smoking Bill, the ‘Generational End Game’ law. Health NGOS and civil society are urging MPS to not let this opportunity slip away. Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has his work cut out but is prepared to go the distance to get the naysayers and fence-sitters on board.


 

Malaysia’s plan to ban smoking and vaping among future generations is a bold move, but the challenge lies in getting all parliamentarians to support the proposed Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill.

With the bill scheduled to be tabled in the current Parliament sitting, health experts as well as advocacy groups have banded together to urge MPs to support the proposed law, dubbed the Generational End Game.

Leading the call to end the smoking and vaping habit is Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, who posted a clarion call on Facebook.

“Act now before it’s too late. Smoking or vaping is an immoral habit and should not be emulated. Stop your addiction and save the next generation,” he wrote.

Heeding the call was a group of 43 health and consumer rights non-government organisations (NGOs), who urged MPs not to let slip the once-in-a-lifetime chance to produce a smoke-free generation.

“If we had had the same evidence on the hazards of smoking in the 1960s... tobacco wouldn’t have become a substance widely available to everyone,” said National Cancer Society Malaysia (NCSM) president Datuk Dr Saunthari Somsundaram.

“There would have been curtailments, with rules and regulations in place to make sure smoking was not widespread.

“We have the opportunity now. Let’s be brave and support this generational end game. We are talking about supporting and protecting generations to come.

“If the MPs do not pass this law now, they must ask themselves again in 20 years’ time. Realise that it was your legacy that you were not brave enough to do something that you know is right and is evidence-based,” Dr Saunthari told a press conference here yesterday.

The NCSM is one of the 43 NGOs who are calling on MPs to support the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill.

Others include the Malaysian Women’s Action for Tobacco Control and Health (MyWatch), Drug Prevention Association of Malaysia (Pemadam), Malaysian Pharmacists Society (MPS), National Kidney Foundation, the Malaysian Association of Adolescent Health, and the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP).

ALSO READ:  Igniting the BAN on SMOKING

MPS president Amrahi Buang said nicotine addiction is very difficult to quit, and imposing a generational ban on smoking will prevent more people from falling into the habit.

“The smoking habit is like a deep pit that is very difficult to get out of. And when one is addicted to cigarettes, we know that it could then lead to drug addiction.

“So, we must prevent a whole generation from falling into this,” said Amrahi.

Addressing concerns that a smoking ban would result in an increase in the illicit cigarette trade, NCSM managing director Dr M. Murallitharan said data has shown that such a scenario would not produce more smokers.

“The tobacco industry claims that 80% of cigarettes in the market now are illicit. While we do not really believe it is that high, we take their word for it.

“Therefore, despite the high number of illicit cigarettes available in the market, our data has shown that the number of smokers in the country has not increased.

“One of the reasons why we do not have a high number of smokers is because of existing laws on smoking.

“So, if you put in a law that bans people born after 2005 from smoking, we can control the habit.

“You may not be able to get 100% as some will try to circumvent the ban, but we will still be able to block a large number of people from starting to smoke,” said Dr Murallitharan.

Pemadam secretary-general Burhanuddin Disa called on MPs who are on the fence about the bill to speak with health advocacy groups.

“We are ready to explain to MPs at any time of the day. Meet us over coffee and we can explain. We need to support this generational endgame plan,” he added.

The proposed Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill aims to ban the sale of cigarettes and vape products to those born on Jan 1, 2005 and onwards in a move to reduce the number of smokers in the country.

The Health Ministry said tobacco use contributed to 22% of cancer deaths in the country. 

Source link