Flip-flop-and then flip back again!
So, it was not a double u-turn as originally thought of.
Know what I am referring to?
Yes, the ban on the 12 stick cigarette in the so-called 'kiddy-pack' box.
Sadly , the Health Ministry today confirmed that enforcement of the small pack has yet to begun though the ban took place on June 2nd.
Why are cigarette companies not taking this ban seriously?
Oh, yes, our Rokok Minister says that instructions have been issued but cigarette companies say that they have yet to receive those directives. So, who is playing poker here?
First, our Rokok Minister says it will be enforced in a few months, very likely in January 2011. Then he was railroaded by the imperial Cabinet to start the ban on June 1st. It must have embarrassed the Cabinet no end to know that Rokok Minister has yet to enforce the ban! What is Rokok Minister up to?
This flip-flopping has also invited the ire of Philip Morris which intends to sue the Malaysian government for revenue loss.
Tobacco firms, in obeying with the ministry’s directive issued in December last year, had stopped producing 14-stick packs to keep with the June 1 deadline.
The small packet ban has already been deferred thrice — first in 2005, then in 2006, and most recently, in May of this year.
The government, under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s administration, has come under fire for indecisiveness in the execution of its policies, with critics even dubbing the nation’s premier as “the father of all flip-floppers”.
Other policies recently reversed by the government include the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax and the two-tiered fuel subsidy mechanism.
In Malaysia Semua Boleh, what else is new?
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