THE Federation of Sundry Goods Merchants Associations of Malaysia (FSGMAM) has expressed disagreement with the proposed Generational End Game (GEG) policy which will have long-term negative impact on the country’s sundry retail industry.
This comes as Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa intends to table a bill in the Dewan Rakyat next month which will pave way for GEG to be implemented in phases.
“We read from news reports that the Health Ministry (MOH) wants to continue with the proposed policy to ban sales of cigarettes and vape in the long run,” commented FSGMAM’s president Hong Chee Meng.
“This is not right as the decision was made without any consultation with the retail sector and will have impact to the retail business.”
Hong further noted that the bill that was tabled last year has a provision to introduce measure to ban display of smoking products and cigarettes in retail shops.
“We are unsure if this is still the stance of the MOH as there was no briefing nor any consultation on any of the measures that will be introduced by the ministry,” he pointed out. “The ban on display of smoking products at retail shops will definitely impact our retail operations and also result in us incurring additional costs to make adjustments.”
More broadly, Hong said FSGMAM has huge concerns on how the GEG policy and ban on display of smoking products at the retail level will be implemented.
“There is no briefing nor any discussion with retail sector on how the MOH intends to implement this,” he claimed.
“The retail sector especially small and medium traders like our members are already finding it difficult to cope with rising cost of doing business and inflationary pressures. This will definitely cause a lot more complexity to our way of doing business moving forward.”
Another concern raised by Hong is the steady revenue stream from the sales of tobacco products that FSGMAM’s members are currently enjoying.
“We do not advocate smoking but from a business perspective, the product has demand and it provides us with a steady flow of income which covers parts of our daily operational costs. This ban on sales of cigarettes and vape will eventually take this away from our revenue stream,” he lamented.
“In addition, MOH did not act against sale of illegal products in the market, hence the ban will only cause sale of illegal products to flourish even more as they no longer face any competition from legal retailers. They can easily dominate the market.”
As such, FSGMAM hopes the unity government will re-consider the bill by looking at it from all perspectives before reaching a final decision.
“In-depth studies and reviews need to be done given that it will impact the retail businesses and the country’s economy,” added Hong. – May 19, 2023
Main pic credit: The Star
