MALAYSIAN GOVT PLANS TO SET UP SEPARATE ACCOUNT FOR NON-HALAL REVENUE

BACHOK (Malaysia), June 28 (Bernama) -- The Finance Ministry is planning to
channel revenues collected from non-halal sources in separate account so that
they would not get mixed up with revenues from halal sources, Deputy Finance
Minister Dr Awang Adek Hussin said.

"This way the Malaysian government can monitor all expenditures," he told
reporters when met in Kampung Badak here Sunday.

Bachok is a territory and town in east coast Kelantan state in Peninsular
Malaysia. It is located 25 kilometers east of Kota Bharu, capital of Kelantan.

He was commenting on the suggestion by the Malaysian Chinese Association
(MCA) to have tax revenues collected from legalised betting activities be
channelled to a special account.

MCA is a uni-racial political party in Malaysia that represents the
Malaysian Chinese ethnic, is one of the three major component parties of the
ruling coalition in Malaysia called the Barisan Nasional (BN) (National Front).

MCA President Dr Chua Soi Lek was reported as saying that it was
high time for the government to set up a different fund from the consolidated
fund to be used, among others, to educate people not to gamble.

Awang Adek said the proposal would be thoroughly scrutinised, but the
process would take a while because it required the government to get the views
from various parties, especially Islamic scholars.

In KUANTAN, MCA Deputy President Liow Tiong Lai proposed that a
mechanism be formulated to combat illegal gambling following the government's
decision not to issue sports betting licence.

"We have to have certain methods to combat illegal betting," he told
reporters after opening Kuantan MCA division meeting here Sunday.

In KUALA KANGSAR, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohamed Nazri
Abdul Aziz lashed out at the opposition, saying their stand on the
sports betting issue smacked of hypocrisy.

He said that the opposition criticised the government over the possibility
of introducing sports betting but when the government decided not to do so, it
then painted doubts over the decision.

Nazri said the government made the decision based on the feedback from the
people and not because of criticism from the opposition.

Kuantan is the state capital of east coast Pahang, the largest state in
Peninsular Malaysia.

-- BERNAMA



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