SIBU: Bukit Aman must step in to restore law and order in the once-peaceful Julau and Pakan districts before they turn into the Wild West, says Julau MP Larry Sng (pic).
In a Facebook post yesterday, the Sarawakian lawmaker claimed that local gangsters have been making life miserable for locals with their illegal activities.
“As I was making my rounds visiting the Chinese community in Julau who were celebrating the Lunar New Year, I came across some local gangsters who were obviously looking to cause trouble. Despite not being injured during the incident, it has since come to my attention how quickly the once-peaceful rural town now resembles that of one in the Wild West,” he wrote.
Sng also claimed that over the course of a year, the introduction of online gaming has carved up Sarawak’s cities and towns into various districts controlled by gangsters from different groups.
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“In Julau, apart from online gambling, their illicit activities have expanded to selling drugs, contraband (cigarettes and liquor) and illegal moneylending.
“They have forced the local coffee shops to buy their contraband in Pakan and Julau and have squeezed the profit margins from the shopkeepers.
“Those who resisted were threatened. In one instance some months ago, drugs were sold in public in Julau town to demonstrate that they were untouchable,” he said.
Sng said he was also told that some public servants and tuai rumah (longhouse chieftains) had gone into debts and were desperate to sell their land and borrow money to repay these gangsters who charged them exorbitant interest rates.
“If their activities continue in such a brazen manner, Bukit Aman will need to come down hard on them,” he said.
