Delegates at the 56th PAS muktamar ( below ) in the Islamic Tarbiyah Centre, Pengkalan Chepa Kelantan today passed a motion that will see 100,000 of its members marching through Kuala Lumpur streets on July 3.

pas muktamar in kota bharu The motion was tabled by the Islamic party's Youth wing, calling for the party to galvanise its resources to pressure the federal government into abolishing sports betting.

The thousand-plus delegates at the debate session made a unanimous decision.

The resolution, in arguing that sports betting would have a negative impact on Malaysian society and sports, vows to rally thousands of PAS members for next month’s handing of a protest memorandum to the king.

The July 3 gathering is to be the culmination of a series of public demonstrations against sports betting which took place nationwide.

A memorandum of protest will be presented to the Agong to urge him to intervene in the matter as the head of Islam. 

Short of a complete ban

However, the resolution falls short of calling for a complete ban on gambling and the phasing out of existing outlets.

Despite an impassioned speech by a delegate from Tebrau, Johor calling for not only the abolition of sports betting but for all forms of gambling as well - and the suggestion by the Tambun delegate for the motion to be amended to urge the federal government to phase out all gambling licences completely - the motion was passed without any amendment.

This laid to rest for now suggestions from certain quarters to widen the ban on sports betting to include all other forms of gambling.

On Thursday, the Islamic party's Ulama wing passed a motion to calling upon the federal government to ban all forms of betting.

Abolishing sports betting was among six motions that were passed unanimously at the PAS annual congress.

The other motions include constitutional amendment by secretary-general Mustaffa Ali and national sovereignty by vice-president Salahuddin Ayob.

The constitutional amendment was to waive RM5 fee to join the youth, women's and ulama wings.

It was also to ensure that the disciplinary board comprised members not holding party posts to ensure independence.