November 19, 2009 - KUALA LUMPUR, The ban on cigarette sponsorship for sports activities, especially football, will not be withdrawn by the government, deputy minister of Youth and Sports Datuk Razali Ibrahim told the Dewan Rakyat Thursday, November 19th. (Dewan Rakyat or House of Representatives is the lower house of the Parliament of Malaysia. All bills must usually be passed by both the Dewan Rakyat and the Dewan Negara (the Senate), before they are given Royal Assent by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (Monarch). Members of the Dewan Rakyat are often referred to as Members of Parliament or MPs. Like the Dewan Negara, the Dewan Rakyat meets at the Malaysian Houses of Parliament in Kuala Lumpur (Dewan Rakyat).
Razali said there will be no change in the government's commitment to support the World Health Organisation's (WHO) global ban on cigarette companies sponsoring any kind of sports activities under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
He said Malaysia had signed the FCTC agreement on September 23, 2003 and became a member on September 16, 2005 and in line with the FCTC requirement, introduced a ruling to enforce laws under Regulations of Tobacco Products, effective August 14, 2004.
"However, an exception was given to football (till end 2004) and for motorsports (till 2006) to enable the sports to fulfill their contractual agreements and to look for alternative sponsorship. "The two sports were given time to restructure their sponsorship deals so that it will not disrupt their plans. As such, the government has no plans to reverse the decision," said Razali when answering a question from Datuk Abd Rahman Dahlan (BN-Kota Belud) at the Dewan Rakyat here today.
Abdul Rahman had wanted to know if the government has any intention of withdrawing the ban on cigarette sponsorship because the standard of sports in the country had dropped drastically due to lack of funds.
Razali added that though the standard of football had dropped, it was not fair to label all other sports in the same category as a number of Malaysian athletes are ranked among the top 10 in the world.
"We have athletes who are ranked among the top 10 in 9 sports," he said. Malaysian squash queen Datuk Nicol David is the women's world number one while Datuk Lee Chong Wei is the men's singles world number one in badminton.
Reference: Ban On Cigarette Sponsorship For Sports To Stay by Bernama - Malaysian National News Agency, 11/19/2009.
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