Even China has banned gambling, says PAS backbencher

 

Tanjung Dawai assemblyman Hanif Ghazali says gambling can destroy the family institution. (MB’s office pic)

ALOR SETAR: A PAS backbencher today asked those who oppose the state’s 4D ban to look at China, where gambling has been outlawed for the past 70-odd years for its social ills.

Hanif Ghazali (PAS-Tanjung Dawai) took to task those who said gambling was part of Chinese culture, saying one could look at how China had placed curbs on such activities since 1949.

Today, he said, China only allowed gambling at weddings, birthdays and other smaller events, and at gaming centres in the special autonomous regions of Macau and Hong Kong.

With the flourishing of Filipino online gambling websites, Beijing had also reached out to the Philippines, pleading with it to end the online gambling menace.

Defending the Kedah government’s decision not to renew the business licences of 4D outlets, Hanif said that as a Muslim, one must support the ban on all forms of betting and gaming to obey Islamic teachings.

“Can you imagine what gambling can do to a family institution?” he asked during the debate on the 2022 Supply Bill in the state assembly.

“The breadwinner is forced to borrow money from moneylenders, while his wife has to pawn her belongings to clear the debts from gambling.”

Hanif also supported the state’s move to curb alcohol sales in certain areas, saying the restrictions should extend to Langkawi.

He said the curbs could help reduce the high rate of road accidents involving drunk tourists on the island, conveyed to him by residents during his regular preaching trips there.

“Alcohol is so freely available (in Langkawi) that teenage, schooling children can buy them,” he said.

He cited a World Health Organization report stating that Malaysians were the 11th highest consumers of alcohol, spending RM1.5 billion on drinks yearly.

He said the state government should also take cognisance of public drinking curbs in Australia and Singapore.

On Sunday, Kedah menteri besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor announced that local councils would not renew the business licences of gaming outlets and restrict alcohol sales in low-demand areas, except Langkawi. - FMT