I refer to both the letter S'wak's 'game over' game plan bad by Web Surfer and the report Sibu council official confirms cybercafe freeze.

As a parent, I strongly support the Sarawak's state government initiative to limit video games in cybercafes. A cybercafe if properly managed and regulated can be a very powerful information, communications and technology (ICT) centre for the community.

But the sad fact is, walk into any Sarawak cybercafe and you will notice teenagers playing games with loud audio effects. The atmosphere looks more like the video arcade than an IT centre. If the Sarawak government is to allow cybercafes to convert into video game centres, then it might as well bring back video arcades.

It is quite true that tourists do visit cybercafes. But how many tourists visit cybercafes to play games? My observation is that most tourists only visit 'clean' cybercafes to retrieve and send e-mails, and occasionally to search for information on local places of interests.

I do not think a tourist will travel thousands of miles to Malaysia to play video games in a cybercafe. So, Web Surfer's indirect and false representation that if there are no games in cybercafes, then there will be no tourist arrivals is false.

He also said: "If this becomes a reality (banning video games in cybercafes), it will cast doubts on the government's intention to promote information technology (IT).'

Now, the question is, what is IT ? Would Malaysia become a successful IT-literate nation by allowing all cybercafes to indiscriminately transform themselves into video arcades? Most likely you will see a bunch of failures (most of them are academically below-average teenagers with family problems) gathering there to live out their electronic world fantasies.

Would the local community benefit from cybercafes becoming places for teenagers to loiter without supervision ? Wouldn't it be more beneficial if they were regulated to deliver the basic objective of allowing customers to make use of IT facilities to acquire knowledge meaningfully ?

A cybercafe is not a video game centre or a video arcade. I believe, the Sarawak state government's intention is to encourage the cybercafe operators to operate within the business definition of what a cybercafe is.

Unlike Web Surfer, I seriously do not think that banning video games in cybercafes will cause serious unemployment problems in the state. Instead, I'm sure the banning will reduce serious social problems caused by loitering teenagers.

Cybercafes are legitimate businesses. But they must operate within the regulatory framework, and should not be allowed to transform themselves progressively into illegitimate video arcades in the name of profitability.

Web Surder points out that the federal government has allowed the setting up of a Ragnarok Game Centre in Malaysia. It goes to demonstrate that the federal government is very keen to facilitate the setting up of on-line infrastructure in Malaysia.

But that does not mean that Ragnarok can use this as a license to introduce socially and morally undesirable games to the Malaysian public. I strongly urge the authorities to monitor the game contents of Ragnarok for I strongly believe that if our teenagers are allowed to play this game unsupervised, eventually we will have a nation full of anti-social, anti-God, and anti establishment youth.

Parents beware, if your children are always in front of the computer, please check what on-line games they are playing. To play safe, please install a router in your home and block off port 5000 and 6900.