Chan
PENAMPANG: Sabah must be prepared to deal with “bigger gambling culprits”, illegal gambling sources and operators, after the decision to halt the issuance of trading licence for slot machines, said Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin.
Chan said he understood the Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal’s reasoning of not wanting to collect tax from gamblers and fill up the state coffers with tax money collected from the activity.
However, he stressed whether or not the legally operated gambling establishments were the real source fueling the problem of gambling addiction was debatable, as illegal gambling operators and sources found underground and online might be the bigger culprit.
“The ban on the slot machines (trading licence issuance), I think, it is good to stop those addict persons from continuing with the practice of this addiction. But then again, the question is are those legal slot machine clubs the biggest culprit of the gambling industry in Sabah or Malaysia?” said Chan after officiating at the New Tech Furniture and Wimura Premises at ITCC Penampang here yesterday.
“I think the bigger culprit, basically, are those illegal which are very difficult to find physically. Slot machine clubs, yes, physically you can see it. But those who operate in the coffee shops? You want the empat ekor (lottery), it can also be bought underground. That one I think brings more negative impact to the society instead of those on the surface.
“Now our challenge is, if you want to ban this legal slot machine clubs, do we have preparation or are we committed to have more determination to stop all these illegal gambling? It must come in a package. You cannot say now I only stop all these slot machine clubs to better go against the gambling (addiction), then finish, then success, then we celebrate. Cannot…
“I quite understand why CM wants to do because he is such a person, he is a very religious leader. He really believes that we should’nt take this kind of a sin/tax from the rakyat to benefit the government’s coffer. This is his real, his genuine concern.
“In order to make sure that the state government can win this battle, I think we should put more effort to stop all the illegal gambling.
“That one is more important. This is my personal opinion,” added Chan whilst emphasizing that his opinion doesn’t represent the stand of DAP.