The Government Is Not Serious About Eradicating Online Gambling

Residents see online gambling advertisements through their devices in Jakarta. (ANTARA/Aprillio Akbar/rwa/pri)

JAKARTA The public questioned the government's seriousness in eradicating gambling (judol) because it was considered selective in eradicating judol in Indonesia.

The police continue to pursue the perpetrators who are suspected of being involved in the practice of judol. Recently, as many as 15 from the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi) related to the judol case.

Of these, 11 of them are Komdigi employees and four outsiders. They are suspected of abusing their authority, deliberately not blocking online gambling sites in order to get money in return.

The police are also hunting for parties suspected of being involved in online gambling from influencers to public figures. Not long ago, Tiktoker Gunawan Sadbor from Sukabumi was arrested for promoting online gambling, although he was finally released again.

However, the public is still questioning the government's seriousness in eradicating online gambling. This assumption arises because the police are considered selective in the midst of increasingly troubling online gambling cases.

If Gunawan Sadbor can be picked up quickly, why are other names, which are celebrities in the country, still able to breathe free air? That's the question that arises in the minds of the public.

For example, a member of the House of Representatives Commission X who is also an artist Denny Cagur. This PDI-P politician admitted that he had been questioned by the Criminal Investigation Unit of the National Police regarding the alleged promotion of online gambling. Denny Cagur also claimed that as many as 27 other artists had been summoned and questioned by the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Police regarding the alleged promotion of judol.

"So the process has already been running, there were 27 artists at that time because we all don't know that we have been summoned to the Criminal Investigation Unit, I have come to follow the rules, as a good color of the country I came," said Denny at the Parliament Complex.

Online gambling is one of the priority issues in the first 100 days of President Prabowo Subianto's administration. A number of high-ranking state officials conveyed their work plans and promises to eradicate judol as a sign of seriousness.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Budi Gunawan, for example, formed a special unit led by the National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo. The main task of the unit is to eradicate online gambling.

Since then, the police have made various arrests, such as female students in Medan who were arrested on November 3 for downloading judol on social media. Even Gunawan Sadbor, who was arrested by the police after his content on Tiktok, was judged to be related to judol.

But on the other hand, the arrest of Gunawan Sadbor and a student in Medan actually hampered the hearts of the public. It's nothing, Denny Cagur's confession that there are 27 artists who have been summoned and questioned by the Criminal Investigation Police regarding the alleged promotion of online gambling until now, the continuation is not clear.

Questioning artists suspected of being involved in promoting judol is actually not the first time this has happened. In 2023, there were at least four artists whose names were linked to online gambling, namely Nikita Mirzani, Yuki Kato, Shandy Aulia, and Wulan Guritno. The last name was even rumored to be an online anti-judicial ambassador, although this was opposed by the wider audience.

The police move, which was considered to seem selective in the case of alleged online gambling promotion, was in the spotlight of the Institute for Security and Strategic Studies (ISESS). Bambang Rukminto as a police observer from the ISESS considered it natural that there was a fairly clear difference in attitude regarding the legal process involving the public figures.

He saw that the police were moving quickly to determine the suspect against a small influencer caught promoting the judol site. However, this did not happen when dealing with famous artists.

The law is sharp downwards and blunt upwards in the case of confirmed gambling eradication there. Why is the lower one always the initial target because they have the weakest position," said Bambang in October 2023.

According to Bambang, both small influencers and major artists have the same role and impact when promoting judol sites to the public. Therefore, he regretted the difference in attitude of the police in this case.

Furthermore, Bambang also criticized the determination of the suspect in the alleged promotion of an online gambling site that stopped at the celebrity level. He urged the police to reveal who gave the endorsement.

if the investigation only stops at the celebgram stage, according to Bambang it only raises suspicion. It is not impossible that the police actually protect the main actor behind this case of promotion of judol.

"Artis is only downstream from the flow of gambling cases. So if it's serious, it's not just lips service, the upstream must also be pursued. If the upstream is not revealed, it indicates that there are internal parties protecting it," he said.