Underground economy growing with many illegal activities

By Stephen Then, The Star

MIRI: The “black economy” in Malaysia has grown to RM10bil, requiring the Government to initiate tougher measures against elements that may become national security threats, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.

“We are not just talking about betting and gambling. We are also talking about human trafficking of women and children (for prostitution), human trafficking of men, money laundering, drug trafficking and even terrorism-related activities. This black economy is worth RM10bil,” he said.

“We are worried that these elements will use the money to finance even more transnational crimes such as trafficking in women and children, financing terrorist groups and even for political purposes.”

He said police were stepping up their cooperation with Interpol and Asean police, and were utilising their bilateral network with neighbouring countries to tackle these activities.

“The police are taking this seriously. We don’t want them (the crimes) to get out of control. In a neighbouring country, illegal football betting alone amounted to US$10bil (RM32bil).

“The money may be used to finance a lot of dangerous activities,’’ he told a press conference here.

Hishammuddin said the recent case of seven high-profile bookies who fled to a neighbouring country showed how widespread their network was.

“Malaysia has good relations with her neighbours. They cannot get far. We will get them,” he said.

He also took a swipe at Opposition parties for trying to politicise what the police were doing, saying that every time the police took stern action against any group that threatened national security, the Oppo-sition would try to capitalise on it for political mileage.

“We will not be deterred from doing what is good for our country.’’

Hishammuddin had a briefing yesterday with the Miri police before going to Mulu for a Barisan Nasional seminar.