Since the enforcement of the Tobacco Act in Brunei on 1 June, there have been mixed public reactions.
Most people welcome the idea of breathing smoke-free air. Now, restaurants have much fresher air in the restaurants. There is now no need to survey a restaurant if there are smokers around, or to move seats as your neighbours smoke.
There are however some places that seem to be quieter. There is this famous eating place in Gadong that would usually become busy on a Saturday afternoon, but now it becomes really quiet. This restaurant that have sishas in its menu have recently reported a drop of as much as 50% of its business as shisha snokers get turned away.
There was a letter to the local paper, presumably from a smoker, that said that the smokers felt as if they were being treated as second-class citizen and penalised for smoking.
But hang on, smoking has been proven medically to cause illness and even death. So what the government does is trying to help promote healthy lifestyles and reduce the consequences of smoking, to smokers and non-smokers alike.
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4 comments:
Healthy living is by choice. I don't smoke but I also don't go for those so-called healthy activities. The way i see it, those events are for show, no choice to be absent from especially if you're a govt servant. At the end of the day, those "healthy" people go home and eat unhealthily too.
It is also silly to say with no smokers, the air is much cleaner. I would like to see the statistics and studies behind that. I'm very sure pollution from vehicles are still dominant.
If the govt is so adamant about healthy living, enforce a strict check on ingredients of food being served by restaurants. But that would be silly right? Everyone has their rights to stuff their body with whatever they wish, so what is the big difference with that of someone who smokes?
I remember reading something in the papers how our country is amongst the top list of most obese population, so why not do something about that? If someone has some statistics on how the effect of smoking has been the cause of death here in Brunei I would like to see it.
And one last thing, people who comes up with this rules obviously didn't think far on the consequences of it. I guess with their high paying job, the fail to see how it would effect other peoples livelihood. With business slowing down, some people are surely gonna be laid-off from work and thus effecting the people under their care.
I think its pretty easy for us non-smokers people to say its all for the good. But I say look deeper, they are others who are hit badly than those smokers.
Awu banar tu, urang yang enforce the rules inda fikir panjang. I have a friend yang boss nya told her sudah if the customers yang datang to their cafe inda improve, then he said he will have to ask her to leave. Not just her, two others too despite having to work in that cafe for a long time already.
I know its easy for us to say "cari pulang keraja lain" from the comfort of our seats but it's easier said than done. Not everyone is well qualified bah. I think these people are the real victims to this smoking restriction campaign. Iatah pemikiran urang-urang tepelajar ani kadang-kadang luan pindik bah, mana jorang tepikir apa jadi nya to periuk nasi urang lain.
...at least the not up to ur liking campaign contribute better air to breathe, create health awareness and save the environment. why u hav to object.. i support the govt action. world peace!!
Firstly, if my comments below are viewed as offensive or inappropriate, I would like to apologise.
Just a few points to ponder:
1. Let us think about affecting 'periuk nasi orang'. I am curious as to who these individuals are.
If you mean the restaurants or cafes - I would have thought their source of income is from PAYING customers regardless of smoking status.
If these premises also sell their cigarettes for their customers then it is easy to see why they would be a lost in revenues in the SHORT run, but was the focus of their business to PRIMARILY SELL cigarettes? Isn't, being cafes and restaurants - the business centres on delievering GOOD, quality for money, food.
The statistics in relation to how cigarettes is an important causative factor in Brunei's leading fatal heart disease (heart attack, coronary heart disease) and cancers (lung, throat, stomach) is AVAILABLE - if you feel that this is not justified simply because it is not showed to YOUR face then all you need to do is RESEARCH and go to the relevant department in RIPAS.
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