First Meeting at DPR, Meutya Hafid Tells of Tense Atmosphere in Communication & Digital Ministry when 11 Online Gambling Suspects Were Arrested

JAKARTA - Minister of Communication and Digital (Menkomdigi) Meutya Hafid attended the first meeting at Commission I of the DPR. In the meeting, Meutya recounted the tense atmosphere in her ministry when 11 online gambling suspects (judol) were arrested by the police.

"Regarding online gambling, the handling until today is probably the last we report to the honorable leaders and members of Commission I that this is a bitter pill. So inside it is also tense, sir, because yesterday the police came in quite large numbers, 40 to 50 people," said Meutya, Tuesday, November 5.

However, Meutya is committed, Kemenkomdigi will be open to the police for the process of developing the investigation of this online gambling case.

"Our commitment that we have conveyed together is one tone even though it is separate from the Chief of Police, that Komdigi will be open and has been open to all efforts to develop the investigation, no matter how many times the police have to come, no matter how long they have to come and investigate in our office, as a form of our accountability, we open the door as wide as possible," said Meutya.

Meutya said that her party had opened an internal instruction letter, namely to all employees of the Ministry of Communication and Digital to provide support to law enforcement (APH) in terms of achieving clear information related to the investigation process.

"So in that APH when coming is always accompanied by the Inspector General with the Directorate General of Aptika and the team, then we have also deactivated 11 names that have been verified, from the names actually detained by the police," explained Meutya.

The former Chair of Commission I of the DPR admitted that she did not know the exact names of her ministry's employees. Even so, she admitted that she had verified the names given by the police and opened up the possibility that the suspects in the Judol case would increase.

"We actually don't know the exact names, only abbreviations, the ones who know are actually from the police, but those who have been verified, are certain, for example, sir, his name is AB, but there are those whose last names are also the same. So we have to verify first so for now there are still 11. However, it is possible that the deactivation will be increased," said Meutya.

Meutya said, in the next seven days if the arrest warrant has been issued, the Ministry of Communication and Information will officially temporarily dismiss the employees involved. If they have been found guilty by law, then the employee will be dishonorably discharged.

"Once again, this is a bitter pill but we must do it in the form of our firmness to correct the mistakes in our internal affairs, then after that of course in an effort to respect the principle of the presumption of innocence, the dismissal will only be carried out if the legal process has been final and indeed the dismissal will be carried out dishonorably," said Meutya.