KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 24 (IslamOnline) - Bangkok's bars and pubs have been exempt from the government's anti-smoking campaign creating a double standard that has shocked citizens, news report from Bangkok said Saturday, August 24, 2002.

A few months ago, the government started a campaign to stop smoking in public places and restaurants, imposing hefty fines to deter smokers from breaching the rule.

However, the rule was curbed to allow posh and expensive bars and pubs to allow smokers in, despite the fines and the enforcement of the anti-smoking campaign.

A columnist in the Bangkok Post newspaper on Saturday wrote that such pubs and bars “apparently do not attract young and therefore impressionable people, smoking is OK.”

“In air-conditioned restaurants, however, smoking will be banned. At least, that's the latest on this latest official health initiative,” the sarcastic writer said.

He added that confusion would still reign over the difference between a pub serving food and a restaurant serving beer.

Bangkok attracts thousands of foreigners every month. Middle Eastern tourists are numerous and they are seen in smoking and non-smoking pubs and restaurants around the high-class areas of the huge city.

Bangkok is currently under a thin air of haze, a hazard that comes from as far as Indonesia’s Kalimantan province where fire is raging.

A city of Bangkok official said allowing smoking in some posh pubs and bars would not make a difference due to the coming haze, with a grin on his face.

In Bangkok there's little doubt that the smoking ban could have a major effect on business.

The manager of one Silom pub-cum-restaurant reckons that as many as 80 percent of his customers are smokers, and fears they will move to other venues after the November deadline, the Bangkok Post said.

Smokers are taking steps to change their habits, saying they simply move to either outdoor restaurants or to those establishments that defy the ban to crack a smoke. However, they must also be in defiance of the haze that is threatening the city too.

Nevertheless, restaurant owners are mumbling that the authorities will find it extremely difficult to apply the ruling. "They're already overworked, so how are they going to find the time to check on smokers in restaurants?" a restaurant owner said to Bangkok Post.