The Malaysian Insight

THE government must probe whether there are more Malays gambling at gaming outlets, Anwar Ibrahim said.

 

“I have information to say that 45% of the members of the 62 gambling clubs (that have slot machines) are Malay Muslims,” said the Opposition Leader during the Supply Bill 2022 debate in Dewan Rakyat today.

“These Malay ‘members’, that number in the thousands, are first admitted as members and then allowed to gamble,” said the Port Dickson MP.

Anwar alleged that there have been more gambling outlets since the new government took over last year.

“Is this being sanctified because the government is Malay-Muslim?” asked Anwar.

In this respect, Anwar urged the Finance Ministry to state the number of gaming outlets and the number of slot machines that have been approved.

“There seems to be efforts to hide the number of slot machines and the number of Malays at these places. Don’t forget that MySejahtera has records of all this,” said Anwar.

He said the government must show the data on gaming outlets before and after 2018.

“There seems to be more Malays joining such clubs since last year.”

Mahfuz Omar (Pokok Sena-PH) interjected and asked the government to also explain the number of additional special draws since taking over.

After decades of vitriol over gambling, the government, which is made up of Malay parties Umno, Bersatu and PAS, restored the number of special draws to 22 since taking over in 2020.

The special draws, which were introduced in 1999 to raise funds for Nipah virus victims, were reduced to 11 in 2019 and 8 in 2020 during the Pakatan Harapan government. – November 1, 2021.