KUALA LUMPUR: A Pakatan Rakyat organised campaign is underway to discourage Malaysians from placing bets during the upcoming World Cup.
Kepong PKR division chairman G Ganesan said a few members had decided to get the ball rolling by telling people, especially the young, that it is wrong and wasteful.
“Gambling is not good for us. We will always lose money, and this is what we want people to understand,” he told FMT today.
He said the campaign will run via SMS and on the Internet.
Despite strong opposition from various parties, the government has gone ahead with its decision to legalise gambling during the World Cup 2010 which will take place in South Africa next month.
The government has issued Berjaya Group of Companies with the license. The move is expected to earn the federal coffers RM60 billion in revenue over the 30 days.
“It is not going to stop illegal betting. The government knows this, but it is still going ahead,” Ganesan said alluding to Deputy Finance Minister Awang Adek Hussein's statement that if the government did not legitimise gambling during the World Cup, illegal betting would be worse.
A puzzled Ganesan said that during the height of the beer controversy in Selangor, Awang was one of the Umno leaders who had declared that this was an Islamic country and that PAS could no longer secure Islamic interest.
“But it has taken a different stand on this issue because RM60 billion is lucrative returns for Umno-BN,” he said.
Anti-gambling rallies
Meanwhile PAS Youth chief Nasrudin Hassan at-Tantawi said anti-gambling rallies will be held in five states after Friday prayers.
Harakahdaily reported him as saying that protests will be held at the mosques in Permatang Janggus in Penang and Pengadang Baru (Terengganu), the state mosque in Ipoh, as well as in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan.
An anti-gambling protest in Kuala Lumpur after Friday prayers last week resulted in police roughing up the participants.
Nasrudin said a series of roadshows would also be held by PAS Youth at various states to educate the public on the evils of gambling.
The protests, he said, would culminate in a mammoth demonstration, planned on July 3, after which he vowed that PAS Youth would mobilise the masses against the government if the latter still did not retract the licence to Berjaya.
"Although the World Cup will be held from June 11 to July 11, we have been protesting against sports betting ever since Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak proposed it to be legalised," he said.
He added that the gambling licence also covered other soccer-related events such as the English Premier League, Spanish Primera Liga, Germany’s Bundesliga, Italy Series A, UEFA, Champions League and the English FA Cup.
Nasrudin also announced a much bigger rally in Bachok, Kelantan, on Friday, May 28, to demand the resignation of Awang, who is also the Umno division chairman for Bachok, for approving the gambling licence.
The rally would be led by among others PAS deputy president and Bachok MP Nasharudin Mat Isa.
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