Press conference in Q4 of 2026: the launch of the MOVE website and the publication of our commissioned research. Media only. Event details

Malaysian Organization of Vape Entity

Our work

A decade of showing up.

Eleven years of debates, panels, memoranda and petitions, in date order.

The movement, year by year

26 Sept 2015 · founded

The launch in Shah Alam

MOVE was launched at a ceremony at RUANG, Shah Alam, under the banner “Stand for something, better than nothing”. In conjunction with the launch, the founding volunteers presented the movement’s first position paper, a Malay-language statement on electronic cigarettes and why the industry needed government regulation.

In an interview with Mingguan Malaysia in the months that followed, MOVE’s founder said a petition with about 50,000 signatures, supporting regulation instead of a ban, was submitted to Pemuda UMNO. We hold no copy of that petition today.

A speaker in a blue MOVE T-shirt holds a microphone in front of a backdrop reading Welcome to the launching ceremony of MOVE, 26th September, Shah Alam.

MOVE Founder Samsul Kamal Ariffin speaking at the launch held at RUANG, Shah Alam on 26 September 2015. The event was officiated by Khairul Azwan Harun, then Naib Ketua Pemuda UMNO Malaysia. 

Three men in blue MOVE T-shirts shake hands while holding a framed printed statement, in front of a backdrop reading Welcome to the launching ceremony of MOVE, 26th September.

The first position paper, at the same ceremony. A Malay-language statement on electronic cigarettes and the case for regulating the industry. 

The Mingguan Malaysia interview is in our coverage register.
Tobacco Reporter, 29 September 2015, via Bernama, reported the petition at 50,000 signatures.

30 Sept 2015

A seminar in Kuala Lumpur

Four days after the launch, MOVE and factasia.org co-presented a seminar in Kuala Lumpur titled “Moving With The Facts On Vaping”. It set out the evidence on vaping as it stood in 2015.

Four men seated at a long table on a stage, in front of a projection screen reading factasia.org and MOVE, Moving With The Facts On Vaping, Kuala Lumpur, 30 September 2015.

Panel discussion at “Moving With The Facts On Vaping”, Kuala Lumpur, 30 September 2015. 

7 Nov 2015

Vape should not be taxed like tobacco

The Star reported vape industry players asking the authorities for clear direction. In that article, MOVE objected to vape being taxed at the same level as tobacco, as a less harmful product should be taxed at a lower rate. More than ten years on, that is still our position on tax for vape.

The original article is paywalled · Archived copy, with the full text. The article and its date are also recorded in SEATCA’s profile of MOVE, a source that opposes us.

13 Nov 2015

The RTM live debate

This was a live national television debate on RTM, and the first time the consumer side of this argument reached a mass audience.

Watch the broadcast, in Bahasa Malaysia.

2016

Briefing government on the industry

MOVE members briefed Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, then Minister of Rural and Regional Development, on the state of the vape industry at the MARA building.

About twenty-five MOVE members in black and blue MOVE shirts posed around a boardroom table with a seated official, under a sign reading Amanah Rakyat.

MOVE members with Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, then Minister of Rural and Regional Development, at the MARA building, 2016. 

A long conference table lined with microphones and monitors, about twenty people seated around it, one of them in a blue MOVE T-shirt.

At the meeting, which the minister chaired, MOVE set out the state of the vape industry.

June 2016

Joint press conferences with the trade bodies

MOVE held joint press conferences with the Malaysian E-Vaporisers and Tobacco Alternatives Association (MEVTA) and the Malay Vape Traders Association (PPVM) on where the trade should head.

Nov 2017

A seat at the Asia Harm Reduction Forum

A MOVE representative joins the consumer panel, “The Search for Less Harmful Alternatives: Consumers’ Perspective,” at the first Asia Harm Reduction Forum. The event was organised by Yayasan Pemerhati Kesehatan Publik Indonesia in Jakarta on 8 and 9 November 2017.

Sept 2018

#VapersBeHeard goes regional

MOVE co-founds #VapersBeHeard with The Vapers Philippines, ENDS Cigarette Smoke Thailand (ECST) and AVI Indonesia, at a seminar run by IDEAS and Minimal Government Thinkers. The aim is to put consumers in the room where the rules are written. The Malaysian representative at the launch was Azrul Hafriz Zainudin.

Recorded in SEATCA’s profile of MOVE. 

2022

The generational end game year

Our busiest year. MOVE filed a memorandum of objection at Parliament against the generational end game bill, and became a voice for Malaysian adults who vape by sharing sCOPe livestreams, a round-the-clock broadcast organised by consumer groups worldwide, for World Vape Day and World No Tobacco Day.

On 30 June 2022, MOVE joined the Astro AWANI panel “Dialog Tiga Penjuru”, episode “Generasi Penamat Rokok”. The same year brought #aktifvape and a community futsal tournament.

Four people seated at a curved white studio desk beneath a sign reading Dialog Tiga Penjuru.

MOVE founder Samsul Kamal Ariffin in the Astro AWANI studio for Dialog Tiga Penjuru, episode ‘Generasi Penamat Rokok’, 30 June 2022, with the host and the two other panellists, Dr Wong Chee Kuan of Universiti Malaya Medical Centre and Prof Madya Dr Norashidah Mohamed Nor of Universiti Putra Malaysia. 

Astro AWANI key art for Dialog Tiga Penjuru, episode Generasi Penamat Rokok, showing the three panellists and the broadcast date.

Astro AWANI’s key art for the episode, carrying the panel and the broadcast date. Reproduced for the record. © Astro AWANI.

Watch the panel on Astro AWANI, 30 June 2022, in Bahasa Malaysia.

1 April 2023

Excise duty on nicotine e-liquid takes effect

A duty of 40 sen per ml on nicotine e-liquid starts on 1 April 2023. The same rate had applied to non-nicotine liquid since 1 January 2021. Collection began in May 2023, once the Customs registration window closed on 30 April 2023. We argued then, and still argue, that tax on a less harmful product should not sit above tobacco’s. From this date vape is a taxed legal product that raises revenue for the Government.

We previously dated this to 1 January 2024, which is the date most coverage uses. The Ministry of Finance media release puts it nine months earlier, and we have corrected it. The full working is on the tax page.

10 May 2023

"Moving the Needle" at the Innovation Summit

Our founder spoke on a panel at the Innovation Summit Southeast Asia 2023, held at the Asia School of Business in Kuala Lumpur. His session, “Moving the Needle”, covered excise duty and the case for regulating rather than banning.

The summit was hosted by the Center for Market Education together with the Property Rights Alliance and the Tholos Foundation. 

Four men seated side by side on a panel, the one on the right speaking into a handheld microphone.

Our founder Samsul Kamal Ariffin on the panel at the Innovation Summit Southeast Asia 2023, Asia School of Business, Kuala Lumpur, 10 May 2023. 

Four men standing together in a tiered lecture room after the session.

The summit was hosted by the Center for Market Education with the Property Rights Alliance and the Tholos Foundation. 

1 April 2025

The display ban begins

Enforcement of the display ban begins with warning letters. The Ministry of Health put the affected premises at more than 51,000. Full enforcement followed on 1 October 2025. We spent the year explaining compliance to shopkeepers.

Malay Mail, 25 March 2025 · Our retailer guide

August to November 2025

The petition

MOVE campaigned for “Kekalkan Vape Secara Sah di Malaysia: Kawal Selia, Bukan Haramkan”, or “Keep Vape Legal in Malaysia: Regulate, Don’t Ban”. The archived copy of the petition page shows 101,616 signatures as at 11 November 2025.

Screenshot of a pink panel from the archived petition page reading Petisyen, 101,616 Tandatangan, 3384 lagi diperlukan untuk mencapai 105,000.

The petition page as captured by the Internet Archive on 11 November 2025, showing 101,616 signatures. The petition on malaysiabersuara.com has been taken down. Archived copy, 11 November 2025.

7 Sept 2026

Asking for clarity on the Poisons List overlap

After the government withdrew its appeal in the nicotine Poisons List case on 18 August 2026, MOVE called publicly on the Ministry of Health to clarify how the Poisons Act 1952 and Act 852 are meant to operate together. We asked for nicotine vape to be regulated under Act 852 rather than prohibited. At MOVE, we stand by the position that prohibition does not remove demand; it removes the regulated channel.

Free Malaysia Today (Bahasa), 7 September 2026 · Malay Mail, 8 September 2026

Forthcoming, late 2026

Our own research paper

MOVE has commissioned an independent study, Malaysia’s Vape Ban: At the crossroads of public health and the black market, covering public health, product regulation and the illicit market. We aim to publish this in Q4 of 2026.

How we work

One

Community

More than 55,000 people are part of the MOVE community, and that is where our mandate comes from. Adults deserve an honest choice. Children should be protected. We believe strong regulation on vape is the way forward to achieve this and we will continue to advocate for it.

Two

Policy engagement

As an independent organisation with no profit motive, we are able to engage with government agencies, including at the ministry level, on developments in regulation on vaping in Malaysia.

Organisations not aligned with MOVE

These oppose MOVE's position

  • SEATCA, the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance, which lists MOVE in its industry monitor. Its profile is also one of the more detailed third-party records of MOVE’s early activity.
  • Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy and its publication CodeBlue, which support prohibition. CodeBlue’s reporting on the Poisons List case is the most detailed available anywhere and we cite it on our law pages.
  • FOMCA and the Smoke Free Malaysia Initiative, which welcomed state-level bans as progress towards a tobacco endgame. MOVE, on the other hand, is against bans and in support of strong regulation.
  • Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control and the Malaysian Health Coalition, which objected that the tax decision left a gap in the legal protection of minors, in a Straits Times report of 7 April 2023. On this gap, they were right.

Their arguments, with our answers

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