From a letter to Malaysiakini,

Remove health warning from cigarette packs Jaafar Ali Jul 1, 05 1:53pm The ‘Tak Nak’ anti-smoking campaign is a pure waste of money and time. It only indicates the government’s convoluted mentality in fighting this brainless smoking practice. A better way would be not to print any health warning at all on cigarette packs. Instead, replace it with the advice ‘Untuk Yang Bodoh Sahaja’ (Only For The Stupid). Nobody will be offended unless they themselves advertise their stupidity by smoking in public places . Everyone will enjoy clean and healthy air in no time.

Despite the author being obviously sarcastic indicating his frustration over the wastage of money on the "Tak Nak" campaign, I thought that his idea was not too far-fetched. Perhaps we should not treat these smokers as adults. Perhaps a little puncture in their ego would do the trick! I have to concur that the "Tak Nak" campaign which cost the taxpayers millions of dollars has been a failure. Despite education being important, giving it the sole emphasis has been unwise.

In many places, successful campaigns have been run when proactive measures are taken. This includes enforcing smoking bans in public places and even to the extent of removing cigarrettes from shelves. I believe our Government is well aware of this issue, unfortunately economic returns has taken precendence over the health of its citizens.

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