Monday, June 9, 2008

Unintended Consequences - Migrating Smokers

I obey the law and I get punished while others who flog it get away with the $$$$ - the story of Bruneian life


According to today's article by Debbie Too of The Brunei Times, smokers are flocking to smaller restaurants and cafes in secluded parts of town to satisfy their nicotine cravings over a cup of tea/coffee and roti kuning (maybe a murtabak or two). This doesn't seem all that surprising, since there are so many restaurants and Cafes in Brunei and only a limited number of enforcement officers (Anti Tobacco Action Team or ATAT as they call it in Ripas Hospitals). The unintended consequences of this lopsided and non-universal enforcement of the Tobacco order is now directly affecting the businesses of those cafes and restaurants that are forced to adhere to the Order because of their location, and rewarding those who are relaxed and don't bother with the obeying the Tobacco order knowing that they aren't likely to be punished because of their secluded location.

How is the government going to solve this problem? There are a few obvious ways, but it involves the deployment of resources that agencies may not already have. Some possible solutions:

1) Increase the number of enforcement agents or set up a special task force whose full time job, 8 hours a day is to drive around to their specified assigned locations to check up on these restaurants. With the number of restaurants in Brunei, you would need a considerable number of agents, which renders this solution very resource intensive.

2) Get citizens to get involved in the enforcement of the Tobacco Order. Anyone who has evidence of people smoking in Cafes and Restaurants can call the task force who can then come in to investigate. The downside of this is of course person or persons making that call might end up getting threatened by smokers who may or may not already be in a foul mood from their nicotine withdrawal.

3) Stop selling cigarettes in restaurants and cafes altogether, and jack up the prices of cigarettes across the board. You may be able to smoke in those cafes hidden away in the jungle, but if each stick costs you $2.00, you'd think twice before you have a puff.

Either ways, the relevant agencies have a fight on their hands. If they don't step up their efforts to curb this migration of smokers and inadvertently punishing cafes and restaurants obeying the law and rewarding those that can get away with it, this will yet be another example of poor enforcement and citizens thumbing their nose at authorities who are either unwilling or not well equipped to follow through with their policies - what is it we say again in Brunei about N.A.T.O - No Action Talk Only?


If our authorities invested in one of these AT-AT,
Rebel Smokers would be easily wiped out....
(*snigger*our attempt at a geek joke)

1 comment:

Ujieka said...

A really good article.
This issue has been going on for a while, hasnt it? The smokers still puff out their cigarettes anyway while the non-smokers just looked in disdain. We ask for relevant authorities (public health, law enforcers?) to deal with this and even though they have done their job, that still doesnt seem enough isnt it?

The root of the problem, i think, lies in the smoking itself. True we say its hazardous to one's health and i cant deny that Bruneians are more well-informed of this fact nowadays rather than say, 15 years ago - but that still doesnt put off many people. People find it very hard to quit. Chewing gum? that doesnt give the same sensation. The only product I heard that could work well is nicotine patch. Does everyone know that?

Basically, all i am saying is.. smoking is a major issue in Brunei.. and i am not saying this just because i find it irritating to gobble my food while sitting next to someone who puffs cigarette. And we do need to get our acts together and get more people to quit smoking.. which is unfortunately, a hard thing to do.