R

esidents in Sragen, Central Java, have transformed the regency'€™s upcoming local election into a gambling opportunity, placing bets worth millions of rupiah on the winner, weeks before voting day.

Supeno, 52, who lives in Sumberlawang district, claimed on Thursday that many residents in his village had staked various amounts of money on the winner of the Sragen regional head election, which is scheduled to be held simultaneously on Dec. 9 with 268 other local elections across the archipelago.

'€œBetting is already rife this week. Punters include businessmen as well as [...] residents,'€ he told The Jakarta Post.

'€œAt a glance, the betting is not publicly noticeable. I, however, acknowledge that some people in my village have put between hundreds of thousands of rupiah and millions of rupiah on guessing the winner of the election.'€

Forty-four-year-old Parwito, a resident of Sragen district, shared a similar story.

According to Parwito, of the four competing candidate pairs, many people in his village had put money on the Agus Fatchurrahman-Djoko Suprapto and Kusnidar Untung Yuni Sukowati-Deddy Endriyanto tickets, considering them to be the strongest candidate pairs in the race.

'€œOnly a few people placed bets on the two other candidate pairs due to the stiff rivalry,'€ he said.

Both Supeno and Parwito admitted that they themselves had placed bets, though they declined to reveal any figures.

They said people'€™s bets had been collected by a villager who was serving as a bookkeeper, adding that punters who correctly predicted the election winner would later claim part of the pool of money collected from those who guessed incorrectly.

In a bid to save time and money, the government has scheduled concurrent local elections in 269 provinces, regencies and municipalities, or half of the total number in the country, this year, making it the first time in Indonesia'€™s history that citizens in hundreds of regions will elect their governors, regents and mayors simultaneously.

In Sragen, home to 900,000 people, the local election will be contested by the Agus-Djoko pair, endorsed by the Golkar Party and the Hanura Party; the Yuni-Deddy pair, supported by the Prosperous Justice Party and the Gerindra Party; the Sugiyamto-Djoko Saptono pair, backed by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and the Democratic Party; and the Jaka Sumanta-Surojogo pair, which runs with support from a coalition of four parties.

Contacted separately, Sragen Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Ari Wibowo admitted that the police had found indications of gambling ahead of the regional head election.

Ari said his institution had formed a special team to monitor the betting.

'€œAs of now, however, we have yet to find local residents who are placing bets openly. We'€™ll immediately take action if we find them. Gambling, irrespective of its form, is a crime,'€ he said.

Sragen General Elections Commission (KPUD) head Ngatimin Abbas, meanwhile, said the bookmaking in Sragen was part of social dynamics.

'€œThe KPUD can only urge the community not to gamble, or bet. We will coordinate with the police to deal with the issue,'€ he said.

In 2013, at least four people died in Southwest Sumba regency, East Nusa Tenggara, after supporters of different candidate pairs in the regional head election clashed due to disputes regarding their bets on the result.