KUALA LUMPUR: No chairs, no roof, and just a red outline on the ground.
This is how the umbrella group for consumer groups in the country wants designated smoking areas to look like if the government insists on introducing them.
In a statement, the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) said those who used the designated smoking areas should also be barred from entering indoor spaces for 45 minutes as it takes up to 10 hours for a smoker's lungs to be clear of smoke.
Fomca Tobacco Control Coordinator Muhammad Sha'ani Abdullah said it was important that designated smoking areas support efforts to denormalise smoking and this is why such spaces should be uncomfortable.
He said proposals to introduce designated smoking areas similar to Singapore and Japan must be understood in the context of the implementation of the initiative in those countries.
"In Singapore's Serangoon Road, which is a smoke-free area, is a wide and open space so smoking areas, denoted by outlines on the ground are provided."
Such a measure would not be suitable in an area like 200 metre stretch of Jalan Alor in Kuala Lumpur, he said.
"In Japan, designated smoking areas are provided because it gets very cold during winter."
Sha'ani said that in Malaysia, non-smoking areas only covered 23 types of premises under the Control of Tobacco Product Regulations 2004.
"There are too many areas where smokers are allowed to light up."
He said this was why plans to allow designated smoking areas without a comprehensive ban on smoking would go against policies to reduce smoking.
Yesterday, the National Cancer Society of Malaysia backed the Health Ministry's plan to allow designated smoking areas to be set up near eateries located in tight spaces.
NCSM Managing Director, Associate Professor Dr Murallitharan M described the move as "good progression of a wider move to create more smoke-free areas in public areas".