On 1 February 2017, the Government of Malaysia officially designated all national and state parks, playgrounds, camp sites and public parks in Peninsular Malaysia as non-smoking zones. These new regulations were announced by Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam, under the 1983 Food Act on 16 January 2017, and were gazetted on 24 January 2017.

Under the new regulation, smoking is banned in public parks, any open area for purposes of leisure and recreational use, such as pedestrian paths, playing fields, game courts and playgrounds. For national and state parks, smoking is banned in any observation tower, camp site, canopy bridge and five metres from the entrance or exit of the canopy bridge.

With an estimated 22.8% of the Malaysian population as smokers, this law will help reduce morbidity and mortality attributable to tobacco use in Malaysia and contribute to the strengthening of the implementation of the WHO FCTC!

FCTC implementation reports of Malaysia are available at: http://apps.who.int/fctc/implementation/database/parties/Malaysia

Media coverage: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/02/02/more-public-areas-now-off-limits-parks-designated-as-no-smoking-zones/ and http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/smoking-no-longer-allowed-at-public-national-parks-says-health-dir-gen

More information is available from Dr. Noraryana Bte Hassan, Ministry of Health, at noraryana@moh.gov.my.