Govt assessing impact of Pokemon Go on civil servants

PUTRAJAYA: The Government will not stop civil servants from playing the popular Pokemon Go, said Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa.

He said for the time being the Government would assess the situation to see if the game has any effect on productivity levels of the workers.

“Let's wait and see if there is any impact,” he said when asked if the Government would issue a circular to ban civil servants from playing during office hours after launching a conference on public sector productivity.

Several state religious authorities have advised Muslims against playing Pokemon Go for its harmful effects on people.

The office of Federal Territories Mufti Datuk Dr Zulkifli Mohamad al-Bakri has clarified that the edict on the game was only meant as an advice for Muslims not to play the augmented reality game as it can bring more harm than good.

The mufti’s office in a statement through Dr Zulkifli’s Facebook page on Sunday said he had never said that playing the game was forbidden.

Pokemon Go was made available to Malaysians and several Asian countries on Saturday.

The game is available for free download in both the App Store for iOS users and Google Play for Android users.

Though there has been no official announcement by the game makers, Niantic, Malaysia has now been marked as 'available' on the official website https://www.ispokemongoavailableyet.com/.