Last month, reports surfaced that Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was talking to gaming giant Genting and lottery provider Beraya Corp. about a possible casino in Forest City, Johor.
A source told Bloomberg that Ibrahim met with Vincent Tan, founder of Berjaya, and Lim Kok Thay, chairman of Genting, to discuss the matter.
Ibrahim denied the report, saying, “Those who brought up the idea on casino license are telling a lie … Not true.”
On April 26, he said he and others mentioned in the report “must take the necessary action” to censure the news agency, including demanding a retraction and possibly taking legal steps, and also identify the source of the information.
Genting Malaysia said Lim did not participate in such talks. Beraya issued its own denial, and added, “Our legal representative has lodged police reports” to “find out the purported ‘unnamed source’ who disseminated complete untrue and false statements.
“We trust the police will do the necessary to investigate this matter, and respectfully encourage any publication to be done more tactfully before making any allegations without prior verification.”
Malaysian King Ibrahim Iskandar, a billionaire who is also sultan of Johor, holds a more than one-fifth stake in the $100 billion Chinese Belt and Road venture known as Forest City.
Bloomberg described the residential development as a potential “white elephant,” though management declares that more than 70 percent of units are currently occupied. A casino there, presumably, would have stoked interest in the development and brought in VIP clients.
Subsequently, according to the Straits Times, “political activist” Badrul Hisham Shaharin, also known as Chegubard, was detained by police for making statements about a proposed casino in a Facebook post; it is not known if he was also the Bloomberg source.
He was charged with offenses under the Sedition Act of 1948 and could face fines of $1,000, a jail term of up to three years or both. He has pleaded not guilty.
Meanwhile, as reported by the South China Morning Post, free-press advocates are slamming Anwar’s calls for recrimination as being reminiscent of Malaysia’s “authoritarian past.”
