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Government keen to break online gambling habit
A recent crackdown has raised questions about how far up the chain of command gambling activities go and whether taking down websites alone will be sufficient to stymie the practice.
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Local officials put up a public service announcement banner discouraging people from taking part in online gambling outside a government building in Bogor, West Java, on June 30, 2024. (AFP/Aditya Aji)
O
nline gambling has taken center stage in the two weeks since the start of President Prabowo Subianto’s administration, following the arrest of a dozen ministerial employees, private sector workers and an overnight social media sensation allegedly involved in the illegal activity.
The crackdown has raised questions about how far up the chain of command gambling activities go and whether taking down websites alone will be sufficient to stymie the practice.
Over the past week, at least 12 employees of the Communications and Digital Ministry have been arrested by the Jakarta Police, with the help of the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim).
Most of the people detained had worked at the ministry prior to Prabowo’s inauguration on Oct. 20, while four others were private sector workers.
They stand accused of “abusing their authority” to flag and block online gambling sites by soliciting kickbacks to allow them to continue operating, Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Ade Ary Syam Indradi revealed on Friday.
“These people were already acquainted with [the gambling sites’ owners], so instead of blocking the websites, they rented a satellite office to handle [their traffic],” Ade said, as quoted by kompas.com.
Through this proxy site in a rented shophouse in Bekasi, West Java, the ministry employees allegedly allowed some 1,000 websites to continue operating in the country, earning Rp 8.5 million ($US536.31) for each site.
