In 1973, North Vietnamese politician and diplomat Le Duc Tho became the first and only person to voluntarily refuse a Nobel Peace Prize.
The prize had been jointly awarded to Tho and United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger for their work negotiating a ceasefire in the Vietnam War. Tho declined to accept the Nobel Peace Prize because Vietnam was still not at peace and, according to the Nobel Committee, “his opposite number had violated the truce”.
Last week, Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad, Ministry of Health (MOH) disease control deputy director Dr Noraryana Hassan, and Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control (MCTC) chairman Assoc Prof Dr Murallitharan Munisamy received the World Health Organization’s (WHO) World No Tobacco Day 2025 award at the 78th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. This accolade for Malaysia was shared between the trio.
Three days later, Ispire Technology Inc., a US-based e-cigarette and cannabis vape company, announced in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing on May 22 that it received an interim licence to manufacture nicotine products in Malaysia from its factory in Senai, Johor. Ispire touted it as the country’s first and exclusive federal nicotine manufacturing licence.
It is not immediately clear exactly which federal government agency awarded Ispire its nicotine manufacturing licence. Neither the MOH, nor any other ministry, has issued a statement to clarify the matter, despite consternation from not just anti-tobacco advocates, but also the local vape industry.
Even if the MOH was not involved in the issuance of the nicotine manufacturing licence for Ispire, Dzulkefly must take accountability as a member of the Cabinet, due to collective responsibility in the Westminster system.
The award of the licence, plus Ispire’s February 2024 announcement of the opening of its ISO- and GMP-certified nicotine and cannabis vaporiser manufacturing facility in Senai, occurred under Dzulkefly’s watch.
Ispire Malaysia Sdn Bhd even registered itself with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) as a medical device company. The signboard of Ispire’s Senai facility states that it’s an “electronic medical device factory”. This is a direct hit on the MOH’s reputation as one of the most stringent regulators in Asia on pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
The Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 (Act 852) enacted by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration isn’t just an “MOH” thing, isolated from other ministries. Governments are meant to work as a whole, with uniform policy objectives across agencies.
Dzulkefly clearly believes very strongly in tobacco control. In December 2023, just a day after his appointment to Cabinet, the health minister apologised to Dewan Negara for the exclusion of the generational end game (GEG) policy from the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023.
It’s rare for a politician to make an open apology, in Parliament no less, especially for things beyond his control.
Dzulkefly once related how he went up against Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad himself, as health minister in the Pakatan Harapan government, by pushing through a smoking ban in eateries in 2019.
“Tun M, in jest, once in Cabinet, called me an extremist for insisting on this public policy,” Dzulkefly told CodeBlue in June 2023.
Despite criticism from detractors who called him the “3-Metres Minister”, Dzulkefly stood his ground and was vindicated for one of the country’s signature tobacco control policies.
Now CodeBlue calls on Dzulkefly to, once again, display his courage by relinquishing the World No Tobacco Day 2025 award as a sign of protest against the government’s nicotine manufacturing licence.
Although WHO recognition is no Nobel Peace Prize, returning the World No Tobacco Day award will send a powerful message not just to our country, but the world.
Even if Dzulkefly voluntarily gives back his award to WHO, Malaysia will still be represented by Dr Noraryana as a representative of the MOH, recognised for its hard work on Act 852 and tobacco control for more than a decade, as well as Dr Murallitharan on behalf of Malaysian anti-tobacco civil society.
Just like how Tho rejected a Nobel Peace Prize because Vietnam had not yet achieved peace in 1973, Dzulkefly too can make a global stand, half a century later, against Big Tobacco.
Editorials represent the views of CodeBlue as an institution, as determined through debate in the newsroom. CodeBlue’s Editorial Board comprises editor-in-chief Boo Su-Lyn, senior health writer Alifah Zainuddin, and sub-editor Chua Chern Toong.
