Labuan: The newly-issued directive on the freezing of cyber cafe licences in Labuan has been described as timely by the local authorities and business community, saying it would help curb the rampant illegal gambling on the island. Labuan Corporation (LC) Chief Executive Officer Datuk Zainul Abidin Abdullah said the local authorities in Labuan had been continuously carrying out enforcement on premises suspected to have carried out gambling activities.
"However the situation remained uncontrollable due to the presence of errant operators," he told Bernama in response to Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor's statement that the issuance of cyber cafe licences in Kuala Lumpur and Labuan would be frozen temporarily as part of government efforts to check social problems at such premises.
Tengku Adnan said this measure had to be taken to overcome the problems regarding the cyber cafes which had been turned into cyber gambling centres and the abuse of the cyber cafe licences.
Labuan police chief Supt Adzhar Othman too welcomed the move, which he said would help the police to easily monitor the situation.
He said police would be working together with local authorities in curbing the immoral activities.
"With the directive, we will certainly be with Labuan Corporation to address this social problem plaguing the community on the island," he said.
Labuan Malaysian Malay Chamber of Commerce Datuk Yussof Mohammad said the directive should have come into effect long ago as the island's image should not be tarnished by such activity.
"The directive from the ministry will help minimise the immoral activities on the island. We have asked the ministry to look into the matter long ago, and we are glad to hear the directive being issued," he said. - Bernama
