TB Hasanuddin: DPR Once Warned of Alleged Civil Servants Involved in Online Gambling But Didn't Get Budi Arie's Attention

Illustration-(Photo: DOC. ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Member of Commission I of the Indonesian House of Representatives TB Hasanuddin admitted that he was not surprised if there were Civil Servants (ASN) involved in the Online Gambling (judol) case.

According to him, he had long suspected the involvement of ASNs but did not receive attention from the previous Minister of Communication and Information (Menkominfo), namely Budi Arie.

"At that time, I had identified it. It seemed impossible that there were no ASNs or employees of the Ministry of Communication and Information involved, but at that time it did not receive Minister Budi Arie's attention," said TB Hasanuddin, Tuesday, November 5.

As is known, Polda Metro Jaya arrested 11 suspects involved in organizing judol activities. Of the 11 suspects, some came from the Ministry of Communication and Digital or Komdigi (formerly Menkominfo).

As a partner of the Ministry of Communication and Information (now Komdigi), continued TB Hasanuddin, Commission I of the DPR paid serious attention to the judol phenomenon which had become very disturbing.

He explained that what he conveyed to Budi Arie when he was still Menkominfo was not without reason. Because the Ministry of Communication and Information has the authority to block gambling sites.

According to him, the gambling problem should be resolved immediately if no one plays or abuses their responsibilities. TB regrets the involvement of certain ministry employees in gambling activities.

"Now it is proven and clear, even 16 perpetrators have been arrested by the police," said the legislator from the West Java IX electoral district.

From the development of the case of unblocking online gambling sites involving employees of the Ministry of Communication and Information, the police have named two new suspects. Currently, a total of 16 people have been named as suspects in the case.

A total of 11 suspects in the case are Komdigi employees, while the other 5 are civilians. The profit obtained by the suspects from developing online gambling sites is IDR 8.5 million per website. They have 'developed' a thousand online gambling sites so that from their actions, the perpetrators can earn IDR 8.5 billion per month.

The Komdigi employees who are seen in this network should be tasked with blocking online gambling sites. But they abuse their authority by actually 'guidance' these sites.

"They are given the authority to block online gambling sites but they do not do so," added TB Hasanuddin.