KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 1 — Jaringan Melayu Malaysia (JMM) suggested today that Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar had been wrong to claim that the police are not responsible for issuing business licenses to entertainment outlets.

When contacted, the Malay rights group’s president Azwanddin Hamzah insisted that this was not the case as a business license requires the signature of a district police chief.

“Is that not an involvement by the police?” he said via text messaging application WhatsApp.

He also accused the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) of failing to monitor his own district heads and said that as enforcers, the police should not be involved in approving licenses for these outlets.

Azwanddin said next week, JMM will urge the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate 18 police district chiefs and nine local government officials regarding the issue.

Yesterday, Khalid insisted that the police are not involved in the issuing of licenses for entertainment outlets and should therefore not be accused of having any conflict of interest in the matter.

He was responding to JMM’’s previous statement accusing the authorities of not doing enough in cracking down on these operations.

JMM had claimed last Wednesday to have received many complaints of illegal gambling centres disguised as family entertainment outlets that were purportedly raking in money from young Malays.

To support its allegations, the group said business licence applications for family entertainment outlets are vetted by the local government councils and the district police chief, and that the same authorities are the ones to take action if complaints should arise.

It also alleged the police and the local town council would “try to protect these premises with gambling machines because they are the ones who gave approval”.