The Minister Of Communication And Information Will Meet The National Police Chief To Discuss Online Gambling And Illegal Loans

Minister of Communication and Information Budi Arie Setiadi at an event in Jakarta, Wednesday (23/8/2023). (ANTARA/Livia Kristianti)

JAKARTA - Minister of Communication and Information (Menkominfo) Budi Arie Setiadi said his party had prepared a meeting with the Head of the Indonesian National Police (Kapolri) General Listyo S Prabowo next week to discuss the handling and eradication of illegal online gambling cases and online loans (pinjol).

"Next week, I will meet with the National Police Chief to discuss this, what are the next steps. Our task (Ministry of Communications and Informatics) is to block the takedown of all gambling online sites (and illegal loans), while for law enforcement measures are the domain of the police," Budi said as quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, August 26.

According to Budi, since serving as Minister of Communication and Information, he has been specifically assigned by President Joko Widodo to eradicate gambling, which is now mushrooming in Indonesia.

This includes handling local government-owned websites and ministries infiltrated by gambling content and illegal loans.

"Mr. President Joko Widodo has assigned me, removed the gambling line because it is detrimental and disturbing to the community. Judionline is an extraordinary deception. This slot gambling is extraordinary, very fast, a month I have served as the Minister of Communication and Information, there are already 42 thousand gambling sites that I take down," he explained.

In addition to the issue of gambling, Budi assessed that people in Indonesia still have the potential to be deceived by illegal online loans.

In particular, the Minister of Communication and Information appealed to housewives not to be tempted by the easy offer to get funds from online loan applications that cannot be verified by their services.

"This illegal online loan deceive housewives, teachers, and young people a lot," said Budi.

He also asked the public to be more vigilant, not to forget that he gave easy tips so that people would not be deceived by illegal loans.

The Minister of Communication and Information invited the public to think logically and check the legality of the application before applying for a loan.

"Tips to overcome this loan is only two words, logical and legal. So if someone offers a loan online, make sure first, the loan is legal, is there an OJK permit or not? Then logically no, suddenly someone offers it in two liquid minutes, this is not logical, there must be something," he said.