Jokowi Orders Integrated Task Forces To Break The Online Gambling Chain

Minister of Communication and Information Budi Arie Setiadi delivered a press statement after a limited meeting chaired by President Joko Widodo / ANTARA

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) ordered an integrated task force led by the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Hadi Tjahjanto to break the online gambling ecosystem. This was conveyed by Jokowi in a limited meeting (ratas) at the Presidential Palace, Jakarta, today. Jokowi also ordered the task force in which the Minister of Communication and Information Budi Arie Setiadi served as the head of the prevention sector, to immediately make a breakthrough in eradicating online gambling. "Jadi bagaimana seluruh ekosistem yang memungkinkan terjadinya judi online (bisa) kita selesaikan,” kata Budi kepada wartawan usai ratas pembahasan pemberantasan judi online dilansir dari Antara, Rabu, 22 Mei. According to Budi, the purpose of establishing an integrated task force is to eradicate online gambling more thoroughly, from upstream to downstream. He also said that President Jokowi advised that the performance of the task force should have a significant impact in handling online gambling problems. "The impact must be significant, at least with real steps this will be more comprehensive in handling online gambling," said Budi. However, he did not explain further about whether there was a target that must be achieved in eradicating the online gambling phenomenon in Indonesia. "The benchmark will be online gambling transactions according to the PPATK report must decrease," he said. Based on data from the Ministry of Communication and Information, from July 17, 2023 to May 21, 2024, 1,904,246 online gambling content was successfully removed (take down) and 5,364 accounts and 555 electronic wallets affiliated with online gambling have been submitted to the Financial Services Authority and Bank Indonesia to be blocked. The Ministry of Communication and Information also continues to coordinate with various digital platforms such as Google and Meta, after recording keyword changes as many as 20,241 times on Google and 2,637 new keywords on Meta. "This is what we continue to pursue so that we can complete the eradication of online gambling at the upstream level," said Budi Arie. The Ministry of Communication and Information also noted that there were 14,823 insertion content indicated online gambling on educational institution websites and 17,001 similar insertion content on government sites. Budi Arie admits that eradicating digital crime is not easy, because online gambling is like a modern “ sophisticated ghost ”.

This is part of our concern that (online gambling) is indeed very challenging, indeed tough (handling). But just wait a week, these two weeks there has been a significant breakthrough,” he said.