Thank You For Not Smoking

On 1st Jan 09, the smoking ban in effect have been extended to..

• children's playground
• exercise areas
• markets
  
• underground and multi-storey carpark
• ferry terminals and jetties
• non a/c areas of shopping ctrs, offices, shops and lift lobbies

in addition to the already in place bans on areas such as

• food centres
• bus interchange n shelters
• swimming complexes
• public toilets
• entertainment nightspots

Although I do not disagree with most of the banned places, as at most it would only inconvenience me a little, i do not understand the decision to bann smoking in carparks.

So now i guess that little stick of cigarette contain lots more poison than that black Rock Oil Rxz's smoky pipe eh. Hmmm. Somemore the owner like to blow the pipe like nobody business. Wah liao eh. Siow eh.

And on food outlets smoking area being demarcated by a yellow box. I didn't know yellow tape provided an invisible barrier against the poisonous fumes from a lighted cigarette.

If the authorities really want Singapore to go smoke free, then totally ban smoking in food centres. I don't mind the hassle of taking a walk 5 metres away from where i ate to have my smoke. Smoking areas are always full anyway.

And then why not, ban smoking totally in Singapore? Then prob i might at last quit because there's no supply. But no, because the authorities know that ciggarettes bring in the money. Look outside your window sill. See that tree? Cigarette tax. The road you drive on. Cigarette tax. The bloody shelter from your block to the MRT station? Your father tax? My father oso pay tax.

Everybody oso pay tax you might argue. Yep! Smokers just pay more tax. It is something we grudgingly do, but we still do.

And nowadays on Stomp there've been reports of people smoking in MRT trains, buses. And you would realise when the people in power start to approve unreasonable laws and rules, the people start to rebel.

At first it was a little ban here and there. Yep we smokers complained, but most of us accepted it as it is. We stopped smoking where we couldn't. So maybe they thought, why not extend the ban you know.

And the rule of expansion is, there is a limit. Once u breach that limit, it snaps. Or bursts. The reports of the old men smoking in the trains/buses are indications of the patience of the smoker population wearing thin.

Really, just ban smoking altogether. Impose a harsh penalty. I have a pack of Menthols with 17 sticks inside. Impose the ban. Impose a penalty of 5 years for possession of Tobacco. Don say 17 sticks. If i still got 17 cartons oso i straight away burn right now.

But why do they do not do this?

Because smokers contribute too.