Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has instructed the police to arrest and jail gambling kingpins who sponsor political parties.

Without elaborating or mentioning the names of the political parties, Ahmad Zahid said this is a concern raised by the various communities.

"Use the law, arrest and jail them," Ahmad Zahid told the police during a buka puasa event in Balik Pulau.

Zahid said crimes related to gambling was the highest in Penang, urging state police chief Chuah Ghee Lye to focus on the area.

"I am putting a KPI (key performance indicator) on the CPO to resolve the gambling problem in Penang once and for all," Zahid said.

"I also do not want to hear anymore about gambling kingpins controlling the industry behind the scenes."

Zahid said the Chinese were also victims of crimes related to gambling.

"Although we are Muslims, and are of a different religion and race, we sympathise with those who have become victims of gambling," he added.

Also present was Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed and inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar.

In 2014, Zahid was embroiled in a controversy involving an alleged Malaysian gambling kingpin who was arrested in United States.

According to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, he wrote a letter telling the US authorities that Paul Phua, a former Macau junket operator facing illegal bookmaking charges in Las Vegas, is assisting the Malaysian government in matters of national security and is not a member of international crime syndicate 14k Triad.

“Mr Phua is neither a member nor is he associated with the ‘14k Triad’, Zahid wrote in a letter to Mark Giuliano, then deputy director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“Mr Phua has, on numerous occassions [sic], assisted the Government of Malaysia on projects affecting our national security and accordingly we continue to call upon him to assist us from time to time and as such we are eager for him to return to Malaysia,” Zahid wrote in the letter dated Dec 18, 2014.

In the wake of the scandal, Zahid has refused to state what national security projects Phua was involved in.

Racial profiling

At the buka puasa event, Ahmad Zahid also warned against profiling crime according to race and social stratification.

He rejected claims that crimes such as drugs mostly plagued the Malay community, while gangsterism is the forte of the Indians and gambling rampant among the Chinese.

He said it may be true that 50 percent of prisoners involved in drugs were Malays, while urban poverty which result in gangsterism were rampant among the Indians.

"We hope Penang will be cleansed of these crimes soon," he added, saying that he was satisfied with the performance of Penang police as the crime index in the state has reduced.