Social Assistance For Victims Of Online Gambling, Jokowi: No!

President Joko Widodo gave a statement to reporters in Solo, Central Java, Wednesday (19/6/2024). ANTARA/Aris Wasita

KARANGANYAR - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) ensured that there was no social assistance (bansos) for victims of online or online gambling. "Nothing," said President Jokowi while reviewing the pumping in Karanganyar Regency, Central Java, Antara, Wednesday, June 19. Including the matter of plans related to the social assistance policy for the target, he said, there was also none. "Nothing," he said. Previously, the Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (PMK) Muhadjir Effendy emphasized that those who were the target recipients of social assistance for victims of online gambling were not perpetrators, but the family. "It needs to be understood, don't cut it into pieces. If the perpetrators clearly have to be prosecuted because it is a crime, now what I mean by the recipient of the social assistance is family members such as the wife/husband's children," he said after Eid al-Adha prayer at the Muhammadiyah Central Leadership Office (PP) yard in Menteng, Jakarta, Monday. He explained this as a clarification of information circulating in the last few days on various social media channels related to the idea of the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture to provide social assistance for victims of online gambling. He explained that the idea of providing social assistance to victims of online gambling was one of the materials proposed by the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture in preparation for the formation of the Online Gambling Eradication Task Force (Satgas). Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture has a capacity as Deputy Chair of the Online Gambling Eradication Task Force accompanying the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Polhukam) Hadi Tjahjanto, who served as chairman in the ad hoc team structure. The formation of the task force is contained in Presidential Decree (Keppres) Number 21 of 2024 concerning the Online Gambling Eradication Task Force which was issued in Jakarta on June 14, 2024.

Muhadjir assessed that the social assistance would help families who were victims of online gambling behavior, because families, especially children and wives, not only suffered material losses, but also mental health. Even to the point of death, as happened in many cases.