Incentives better than taxes for healthy eating habits, says expert

Free Malaysia Today

22-06-2025

The government has been criticised for overreliance on market-based tools like the sugar tax, which show little effect on better public health. (Rawpixel pic)
PETALING JAYA : Malaysia should put greater emphasis on incentive-driven strategies in its policies for promoting healthier eating, says a veteran nutritionist.
Dr Tee E Siong said the government has been using punitive measures, such as the sugar tax, without evidence demonstrating any success in changing habits.
'I would prefer to go more for the carrot (incentives) rather than sticks (fines and taxes),' the adjunct professor at IMU University told FMT. 'Are there clear examples here or abroad that show sugar taxes really steer people away from sugary beverages and toward better choices?'
He urged the government to provide tax breaks to food manufacturers that create healthier alternatives and invest in research and development, as outlined in Malaysia's national plan of action for nutrition.
Tee, a former president of the Nutrition Society of Malaysia, said consumers, too, should also be given incentives as highlighted in the 2023 health white paper, and to companies which provide programmes to encourage a healthy lifestyle, including healthy eating and active living.
Malaysia's 'overreliance on market-based tools' like the sugar tax, came under criticism recently from economist Jomo Kwame Sundaram, who said such measures have had little effect on public health outcomes.
Official data show rising rates of chronic diseases such as diabetes (from 11.2% in 2011 to 18.3% in 2019 and 15-16% by 2023) and adult obesity rising from 44.5% to 54.4% over the same period.
However, health systems specialist Dr Khor Swee Kheng said the government should not limit itself to a single type of policy but instead adopt an all-of-the-above approach.
'The main objective of healthy eating is to improve the health of Malaysians without compromising taste, local culture and domestic food security,' he said.
'There is a range of policy options, ranging from tax deductions, subsidies for healthy foods, and provision of vouchers, to the more interventionist policies like Japan's School Lunch Act.'
Azrul Khalib, CEO of the Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy, called for more policy coherence, criticising the contradiction of subsidising sugar while imposing a sugar tax.
'We cannot subsidise sugar at a cost of up to RM600 million a year and yet impose a sugar tax which collects only around RM400 million.
'We need to remove the sugar subsidies immediately so that the revenue collected can be invested in better health promotion programmes, which are currently extremely underfunded,' he said.