Corruption a factor in sale of illegal cigarettes

I HAVE been reading with awe and amazement the comments on the subject of bringing kiddie packs back. There are those who back the move by stating that usage of tobacco has increased despite the banning of these economy packs, and some even cited loss of livelihood as their reason.

The 2016 Confederation of Malaysian Tobacco Manufacturers (CMTM) report states that 45.6% of cigarettes sold in Malaysia were illegal. With a simple search online, one will see that the average per capita cigarette consumption in Malaysia is roughly 1,400 sticks. The scale of the illegal cigarettes market becomes prevalent if you do the math here.

The increase in sales of illegal cigarettes can be due to highly skilled, technologically savvy smugglers who manage to evade our authorities. I do not doubt some of these illegal cigarettes enter through this method but this would involve only a small amount. I, for one, believe in the competence of our authorities to curb the flow of illegal cigarettes through our borders.

The question to ask is: “How does the majority of these illegal cigarettes reach our market in the first place?”

Let’s get real and be honest about this issue. The main problem here is corruption. We need to look at it without fear or favour and call a spade a spade.

We need to heed Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad’s words that corruption is the country’s “public enemy number 1”. If we don’t, the issue will continue to fester and reach an epidemic level. Or are we already there? GLAU Kuala Lumpur