MINI TURF CLUB ACTIVITIES

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Mr J.B. Jeyaretnam asked the Minister for Home Affairs whether he is aware that innocent persons found in food stalls in Housing and Development Board estates in the afternoons of race days are being arrested and taken to Police stations and detained till the evening, and, if so, if he will explain why this is being done.

The Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs (Prof. S. Jayakumar) (for the Minister for Home Affairs): Mr Speaker, Sir, I am answering this question on behalf of my Minister.

A serious problem which exists in HDB estates is that of illegal bookmaking and betting taking place during the afternoons of race days while races are in progress. Commonly known as "mini turf club activities", these have become blatant and widespread. On race days large groups of persons, sometimes as many as a hundred or more, congregate at various locations such as hawker centres, coffee shops, shophouses or void decks in HDB estates, to place bets on the results of horse races.

In 1981 alone, the police received a total of 8,887 '999' calls complaining about such gambling activities. At least 2,400 of these calls or about 50 per race day referred directly to these mini turf club activities. In addition, the eight Police Land Divisions and the CID also received 405 such complaints. The undesirable activities of the mini turf clubs have also been widely discussed in the press, and I recall that last week Members also referred to this matter in this House. Secret society and other criminal activities are also associated with this illegal gambling.

To deal with this problem which causes annoyance and apprehension to the residents in the HDB estates, the police conduct raids at locations where such activities take place. In 1981 alone, a total of 2,372 raids were conducted, resulting in the arrest of over 2,600 persons.

Persons arrested during these raids are brought back to the police station together with whatever evidence that is seized during the raids. The arrested persons have to be questioned, statements have to be recorded and evidence has to be processed before a decision is taken to prosecute. When a large number of persons are arrested, this may take several hours. Those who cannot be prosecuted due to lack of evidence are released the same afternoon or evening.

I can assure hon. Members that there has not been any indiscriminate arrest of persons by the police in these raids. Before every raid the police carry out careful surveillance to identify the culprits before moving in to arrest them. The police has to-date received no official complaint of any specific case of wrongful arrest.

As a lawyer, the hon. Member for Anson must know that it is not easy to bring about a successful prosecution of persons under the various provisions of our Betting Act. Sufficient evidence of the placing of bets must be adduced before you can get a conviction. To make it difficult for the police to prove gambling, bookmakers have resorted to keeping track of bets by using coloured chips, water-melon seeds, Chinese chess counters, buttons, bottle caps, match sticks and all sorts of other ingenious devices. Thus, those persons who are released and not prosecuted due to insufficient evidence cannot be said to be innocent bystanders.

Continuing action by the police is necessary, Mr Speaker, if we are to combat this problem. The Member for Anson may be interested to know that a total of 31 public complaints of such illegal gambling activities were made by persons residing in Anson constituency. Instead of supporting the action of the police in stamping out gambling, the hon. Member for Anson has preferred to recite the viewpoint of the illegal bookies. It is they who will swell their takings if police action is inhibited by distortions of the truth put forward by the Member for Anson.

Mr J.B. Jeyaretnam (Anson): Mr Speaker, Sir, may I assure the Minister and the Members that I have not been approached by an illegal bookie.

An hon. Member: Not yet.

Mr Jeyaretnam: The man who saw me about this is a man who was innocently having a bowl of mee at the Henderson market at about 5 o'clock one afternoon on a Saturday. He was suddenly trundled off to the police station at Queenstown where he was kept until 6.30 p.m.

Mr Speaker: Can you ask your supplementary question, Mr Jeyaretnam?

Mr Jeyaretnam: All I want to say is that whilst I appreciate the need to stamp out any illegal bookmaking, would the police take steps to ensure that innocent persons who are not there for bookmaking or betting are not suddenly trundled off to the police station? This man told me that the only questions asked were, "How many fathers and mothers have you got here?" And then he was released at 6.30 p.m.

Prof. Jayakumar: Mr Speaker, Sir, I have listened to the hon. Member for Anson. I have answered the question fully. He persists in maintaining . . . now it is not "persons" in the plural but an innocent "person" in the singular . . . if he maintains that innocent persons or an innocent person has been harassed or wrongfully arrested, then if he sincerely believes in this, the question is, why has he not made a written complaint to the Ministry of Home Affairs or to the police, giving particulars as to who, when, where, location and time, so that this can be investigated? And we will investigate. Not to have made any written complaint but to have raised a general question, thereby raising the spectre of innocent persons being trundled off, gives the impression to this House, to me, and certainly to members of the public, that here we are not really hearing a case of a genuine accusation or complaint against the police but just to score a debating or publicity point.

Mr Jeyaretnam: If you want the name, I will give it to you.