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RM16 is what one needs to gamble in Colmar Tropicale Bukit Tinggi Resort Press Statement by Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew (Petaling Jaya, Thursday): Prime Minister Dato Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad denied that his government has given a second gambling licence to Vincent Tan yesterday. He argues that the licence given was strictly for slot machines and strictly for the club members of the hilly resort. This denial came after much protest from Malaysian public who was outraged by the latest move by the Government to turn Pahang Darul Makmur into "Pahang Darul Kasino". But the resort is known to have no less than 250 slot machines. This number is huge by any standard and it is not wrong for anyone to call it a casino instead of a club. And the fact that one only needs to pay RM16 as  membership to start playing with the machines clearly testified that Colmar Tropicale is indeed a casino. There is no reason for a club to own such a whopping number of slot machines. The RM16 "membership" has no other benefits or access to facilities other than it allows one to gamble in the resort. Can someone tell me which other club on Earth charges only RM 16 for membership? To me, the RM 16 membership is simply a gimmicky way of labelling the resort as a club for legal purposes. Malaysia certainly does not need another casino. And certainly not another one just a few kilometres away. The Malaysian society has enough of social ills and problems. More casinos in Malaysia simply mean more social problems for the society. (22/5/2003) * Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew, DAP national publicity secretary