The warning came following a meeting on Tuesday between local government officials and the Perak Cyber Centre Association led by its President, Chang Tat Guan. “We have given a one-month notice to the cyber cafe operators,” said Nga Kor Ming, Chairman for the state's Education, Local Government, Housing and Public Transport Committee.
Nga stated that he had received numerous complaints from parents and teachers that children were spending time in the state's cyber cafes. “We are not saying all cyber cafes are operating like gambling dens,” said Nga. “There are some black sheep that even give loans to students and charge them loan shark interest. We want to tell such cyber cafe operators that we are going to close them down immediately. No compromises and no appeals.”
Nga revealed that children would often steal money from parents in order to pay off such debts so he had instructed the state's relevant departments not to entertain appeals from such operators. He said there were 241 licensed cyber cafes in the state while another 19 operated without a license.