vox populi small thumbnail 'The woes that excessive gambling can bring is well-established and yet our leaders are still undecided on this issue.'

 

Sports betting licence slipping out of Vincent Tan's hands?

Hopium: I am a non-Muslim and I don't want the sports betting licence to be approved. I have family members who spend tens to hundreds of ringgit a month at number forecast outlets. Their income is less than RM2,000 a month, but they are obsessed with striking the jackpot.

They have been contributing to VT (Vincent Tan) and the likes for more than a decade. I cannot change their craving for number forecast, but the government by limiting the gambling outlets and not issuing new licences would reduce the frequency of people like my kin from contributing to people such as VT.

Just by increasing the draws by additional twice a week has made many to keep throwing their money for better luck. They do not have a good understanding of financial management, and legalising sports betting would only make things worse.

Many do not get involve in illegal sports betting since they are not associated with such people. Upon legalising sports betting, these people will get an additional gambling avenue. This is a curse!

Cala: Hopium, well said. I am a Chinese. I can share two similar stories with you.

Story one: A friend of mine owned a petrol service station in Selangor from 1970 to 1990. He lost close to RM1 million over the years in "empat ekor". Today he has nothing at 60.

Story two: One of my relatives, at 30, indulged in football gambling and lost thousand of ringgit. He lost the stationary shop he owned in Muar, and got a job in Johor Baru. Soon after he borrowed money from his boss and lost them all. Then he borrowed more money from the Ah Long to satisfy his never-ending quest in gambling. He lost and fled, this time to Penang. Today he lives like a fugitive.

From the look of things, the purported issuance of sport gambling licence to Ascot Sports in 2003 has nothing to do with Abdullah Ahmad Badawi or Najib Razak (Wain, 2009, p. 319, para 2).

If I am Najib, why should I take the risk to please a person or two while that kind of decision has the consequence of gambling away his political future? Not to endorse it is morally right, economically sensible and politically popular.

As I have always said, Najib, in many ways is a lot more cunning and savvy than Badawi. He knows when to stop and when to charge ahead.

Au Fait: Our future is at stake. The BN government is gambling on our future whether the licence is reissued or otherwise. Vincent Tan will be compensated for his present and past 'national services' to the BN.

How he'll be compensated is anybody's guess but it'll definitely be a big fat sum. The outcome is clear, we are the losers. Whatever little money left in our pocket will be moved to Vincent Tan's bank account.

Multi Racial: It does not matter how you look at it, gambling is bad for Malaysians. Najib wants to issue the sport gambling licence to Vincent. MCA comes out loud to support it. PPP also sings the same tune. Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad sings the loudest in support of it. Do you think they support sports gambling because they care about Malaysians?

Louis: Why must the government so adamant in pleasing just one tycoon who is already filthy rich? In pleasing this guy, the consequence is that thousands will eventually suffer financial woes from betting on sports results.

I believe our leadership has lost its conscience and is numb to the public's need. To them, it's ringgit and more ringgit that matter and other interest can just be brushed aside. The woes that excessive gambling can bring is well-established and yet our leaders are still undecided on this issue.

Jefferson76: This is a glimpse of what a two-party system does. The threat of losing office is a powerful tool for the rakyat. Let's keep pushing for more power by kicking these guys out so that we can strengthen more areas to favour the people.

Keep voting against BN until they are well and truly out of office for at least one or two terms. Then all the politicians will be fighting to serve us so that they can hold office.

The robotic Malaysian in the 'Allah' row

CPL: Good reading. I thought that the scientific method is used/invented by Muslim scholars. I saw that lovely documentary on cable TV on Islam and science. A little TV can be a good thing.

Muslim scientists know that the heavens in our solar system rotate around the sun, and the earth is round. Because they have to know the prayer times for the vast empire and that is measured by the shadow the sun makes on the earth. Because the shadow changes - they figured that the earth is not flat. The instruments are still there in mosques in the Middle East.

Swipenter: There is no such thing as perfection in this imperfect world. If a thing or a religion is perfect, it only means one thing; it is immovable, unchanging and not capable of change.

We, as human, know that no one religion is the panacea for mankind imperfection. People who think that they are perfect usually get stuck and unchanging just like the medieval Church until Copernicus and Galileo came along to challenge their dogmas as pointed out by the writer.

Of course, there are people like Akhramsyah (Muammar Ubaidah Sanusi) who uses the concept that the majority is always right and therefore it is their right to impose their will onto others and the minority should just shut up.

Throughout the history of mankind, it is usually the dissenting individual or group that revolutionise the way mankind think and live, and not the majority. The majority are always afraid of changes because it threatens their way of thinking and their interest. They want to preserve the status quo for their own selfish interests.

Crazy Raj: It is important that we as Malaysians respect each others' beliefs and religion. I really do not understand why such an issue as the use of a word is being blown up. We each have our own religion, we will not step on another's religion. We should leave it at that.

If anything, please start talking about better understanding between different religions and races. I am directing this to bloggers and potential bloggers. Do not get caught up with the hype of certain parties doing what they think is right when it only instigates problems. Do the right thing.

 

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