A Johor state assemblyman says about 3,000 Malaysians board
buses to Singapore daily to gamble away S$3 million at the
integrated resorts (IRs).
According to a Utusan Malaysia report, Datuk Tee Siew
Kiong, who is a central committee member of the Malaysian Chinese
Association (MCA), a key party in the ruling Barisan Nasional
coalition, asked the federal government to take measures to control
the flow of these Malaysians to the IRs.
Mr Tee, who is the assemblyman for Pulai Sebatang Pontian, said,
“They spend a minimum of S$1,000, which is equivalent to S$2.9
million a day, or S$83 million a month, for the purpose of
gambling.”
Malaysian politicians are also concerned by the number of locals
travelling to Singapore to gamble.
The same paper added that Mr Tee was the first to state the
number of Malaysian visitors daily and how much they spent, but did
not say how he arrived at those figures.
MCA Youth chief Datuk Wee Ka Siong recently expressed concern
over the hike in the number of ‘free tours’ taking Malaysians to
the casinos. He said he initially thought that such tours were
organised only from Johor, but revealed that they are also
available from Penang.
Mr Tee added that from the information he received, 30 buses
make the daily round trip, with seven of those being buses from
Singapore, the report said.
“This can raise social problems and destroy the family
institution as there are local tourists who gamble until they have
to borrow from ah long (loan sharks),” he said.
Utusan reported Mr Tee claiming that there were
Malaysians working in Singapore who spend their entire salaries at
the IRs, and that there had been instances where life savings were
drawn out and properties sold to feed the gaming habit.
He suggested to the federal government to stop tourism agencies
and buses from taking Malaysians to the casinos. “We do not want
this thing to continue because it has more negative effects than
positive ones,” Mr Tee told the paper.
Some people Yahoo! Singapore spoke to were not surprised by the
number of Malaysians visiting the IRs.
“I guess for those staying further south and close to Singapore
would want to come here to gamble as it’s more convenient,” said
salesman Jay Chan, 32.
Store supervisor Zack Goh, 29, said it’s not expensive to travel
down to Singapore. “My relatives from Malaysia are visiting the
casinos quite often because its affordable and they are drawn by
the new IRs.”
-- Yahoo! News