I support the call for the Government to review the smoking situation in Singapore. The argument that smoking is a choice or a right rests on shaky foundations. (“Make S’pore a smoke-free nation”; Dec 22)
Smoking damages the environment and the health of other people. It is an example of how private actions can produce public consequences. It is hence difficult to see why consent should be seen as the highest virtue.
It is thus questionable whether there is any value in allowing people to make a manifestly poor choice. In fact, it is unjust to subject people to powerful temptations to do harmful things.
Any assertion of smoking being a right has no legal or philosophical basis. A right is usually linked to inherent human dignity as opposed to a political weapon used to achieve political ends.
One way the Government can control smoking without a political backlash is to increase the minimum age of smoking by a year, every year. Theoretically, the next generation would then never be exposed to the dangers of smoking. We could have looser restrictions for foreign visitors, however, to protect our tourism industry.
It would be a mistake to imagine that all smokers are simply in favour of smoking. Many, for example, do not want their children to start.
HAN JUNWEI
*Article first appeared on TodayOnline Voices (30 Dec 2014)