KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 11): Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has stressed that the government will continue to intensify efforts to combat illegal gambling activities in the country.
Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said that enforcement actions taken so far against such activities had resulted in seizures amounting to billions of ringgit.
However, he acknowledged that there are several challenges in curbing the activity in Malaysia.
“It is not easy because online gambling operators are sometimes based overseas. Secondly, the electronic mechanisms are highly sophisticated — they can open and shut operations quickly,” he said during an oral question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday.
The prime minister was replying to a supplementary question from Fong Kui Lun (Pakatan Harapan-Bukit Bintang) on whether the government views action against illegal gambling operators as a complementary measure to plug revenue leakages so that fiscal consolidation efforts do not rely solely on reducing subsidies.
Anwar said that in addition to enforcement measures to address illegal gambling activities, the government is also focusing on enhancing public accountability and awareness regarding actions that contravene the country’s laws.
For more Parliament stories, click here.