Halting the Comeback of “Kiddie Packs”: Defeating an Invisible Enemy

Background and context: “Kiddie packs”–packs of 10 or fewer cigarettes–have been banned in Malaysia in 2010. In August 2017, however, tobacco control civil society organizations (CSOs) were informed that the tobacco industry had approached the Malaysian government on this issue, claiming that a “return” would increase the government’s tobacco tax revenue. Unfortunately, this news was not formalised and CSOs were not allowed to reveal the source. We thus could not implement direction action organizing, and the media is much less likely to respond to “smoke without fires”. Aim: To stop the return of kiddie packs. Strategy/Tactics: Through discussions on a WhatsApp group, CSOs launched a “divide and conquer” battle. After a CSO took the risk and leaked the information to media (without revealing its source), many groups built on the voice, and “smoked out” the enemy. A few CSOs tackled a different front, including using social media to gather voices, rallying the support of policymakers, other ministers, and...