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Police to fight cruise ship gambling
Riau Island police may take action against gamblers, who transit by ferry to cruise ships offshore, or which dock at Batam harbor, as they may be breaking national laws applicable to Indonesian sovereign territory, a police chief has said
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Riau Island police may take action against gamblers, who transit by ferry to cruise ships offshore, or which dock at Batam harbor, as they may be breaking national laws applicable to Indonesian sovereign territory, a police chief has said.
The Riau Island police chief, Brig. Gen. Indradi Thanos, told The Jakarta Post Thursday that cruisers providing gambling facilities which docked in Batam and then sailed into international waters, might be breaking national rules in respect of gamblers in transit.
Indradi explained that there were two harbors: Nongsa Pura and Harbor Bay Batam, which were used by gamblers who came from Malaysia and Singapore to transit before they departed to cruise ships in international waters.
"They usually come in groups of hundreds of people, using ferries from Singapore or from Malaysia" said Indradi.
From the Batam harbors, they use other ferries to sail to cruise ships which are anchored at sea (not in Indonesian waters). The ferries return to Indonesian harbors carrying the passengers, when they have ended their cruise.
When they dock at the harbors in Batam, they immediately transit to other ferries to go back to Malaysia or Singapore.
According to Indradi, police cannot take legal action over the gambling since the activities take place outside of Indonesian jurisdiction. However he alleged that "Their activity, by involving transit through Indonesian territory, *may have* broken rules on sovereignty".
"We will conduct serious action concerning these gamblers in the very near future as their activity has insulted Indonesia," said Indradi, adding that their activities made no contribution to Indonesia.
Thus far the police have simply observed these activities in relation to cruise ships, he said.
"We have decided to stop these activities as they have broken the etiquette and insulted our country. We are in the process of working out what kind of action should be attempted to deal with this," said Indradi.
This has gone on for years. Everybody on the beach at Batam witnesses the transit of passengers from the harbors in Batam to cruise ships, which wait for them to come aboard and then sail round the Malacca Straits while gambling is taking place.
