PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry has ordered nine smoking rooms at eight airports in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan to close for operating illegally.

The airports were Kuching and Kota Kinabalu International, Bintulu, Sibu, Miri, Labuan, Sandakan and Sandakan’s LCCT 2.

A source said the order came from Health Ministry deputy director-general Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman.

He acted after the ministry found out that the airport management had not built the rooms to specifications and were operating the facilities without ministry approval.

Legislation prohibits airport from having a smoking room if flights are under three hours.

The source said that the airports were operating the smoking rooms illegally since 2004 when the Government placed a restriction on smoking in public places.

A Malaysia Airport Bhd (MAB) official confirmed it had received the notice and had instructed that the smoking rooms be closed.

MAB operates all the airports in the country, except for Senai International.

The official, who did not want to be identified, said that MAB would call for tenders to renovate the smoking rooms at the Kuching and Kota Kinabalu airports.-thestar