KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 — The government continues to use the Prevention of Crime Act 1959 (POCA) for online gambling and illegal public lotteries, Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) said in its 2024 Human Rights report launched today.

According to the report the government did not use POCA at all last year to arrest individuals suspected of being involved in terrorism, trafficking, immigration and organised crime-related offences.

“Similar to observations made in the 2021 Malaysia Human Rights Report, POCA continues to be actively used against individuals involved in illegal organised activities such as online gambling and illegal public lotteries,” the 2024 report said.

On March 12 this year, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said that 2,081 raids were conducted against illegal online gambling and public lotteries, leading to the arrest of 2,153 individuals, who were charged with POCA, amongst others.

However, the watchdog reported that POCA was used 133 times in 2022 to arrest individuals under “organised crime” and was not used for terrorism, trafficking and immigration-related offences.

Nonetheless, the usage of POCA for trafficking, immigration and organised crime-related offences is at a consistent downtrend with 908 cases in 2019, 667 in 2020, and 245 in 2021.

Suaram is a human rights watchdog specialising in advocating for and educating the public on civil and political rights in Malaysia since 1989.

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2024/03/27/suaram-report-poca-continues-to-be-used-only-for-online-gambling-illegal-lotteries/125830