Johor Health Department greatly appreciate the comment made by A.R. Ismail entitled ‘There are laws, but no enforcement’ (NST 28 May 2012). Thank you for the concern of non-smokers being affected by the bad habit of smokers at the public areas. Since the Control of Tobacco Product Regulations first came into enforcement in 1993, Johor Health Department had been scheduling enforcement raids at gazetted non-smoking premises including R&R. There are 21 premises gazetted as places where smoking is prohibited. For your information, as for R&R, only the public toilet has been gazetted as prohibited area for smoking. Open food courts, public car parks and fruit stalls are not gazzetted, thus enforcement is not applicable. In 2011, 6,470 compounds were issued for offences related to Control of Tobacco Product Regulations 2004. From January till April this year, 3142 compounds has been issued for offences under similar regulations. Since 2010, Johor State Goverment in collaboration with Johor Health Department  has embarked on an initiative to protect the majority non-smokers through programme called ‘Johor Bebas Asap Rokok’ (JBAR). By having this initiative, the state is embarking on gazetting public places to be included in places where smoking is prohibited under the regulations.