Threatening The Future Of The Nation's Children, The Speaker Of The House Of Representatives Asks For Online Gambling To Be Eradicated Immediately

Chairman of the House of Representatives and Chairperson of the PDIP DPP Puan Maharani (ANTARA)

Threatening The Future Of The Nation's Children, The Speaker Of The House Of Representatives Asks For Online Gambling To Be Eradicated Immediately.

"Online gambling should not be allowed to develop more widely. Judol threatens the future of the nation's children," said the chairman of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, Monday, April 28.

Puan emphasized that online gambling practices must be addressed immediately to save the younger generation from increasingly worrying exposure to judol. Because according to the Ministry of Communication and Digital, currently 80 thousand children under the age of 10 are exposed to online gambling via games on their cellphones.

"We all know that more and more children are exposed because access is easy through the internet. This is certainly a real threat to our young generation," he said.

As is widely reported, rampant, systematic and massive online gambling activities have led to the emergence of many derivative criminal behaviors. Such as the increasing number of suicide and murder cases between family members.

At the end of last year, a man in Morowali Regency, Central Sulawesi, was desperate to rob and kill his own mother with the initials R aged 80 years. He killed his own mother in order to be able to play online gambling.

Then, there was also a suicide incident committed by a man with the initials THP earlier this year due to online gambling addiction. The 27-year-old man is suspected of being depressed in the aftermath of judol.

Puan also highlighted how online gambling has affected many joints of life. Online gambling has really damaged the joints of the nation's life, including family resilience. Phenomenon like this must be stopped," he said.

Meanwhile, Komnas HAM and LPSK reported that the spike in cases of domestic violence (KDRT), child neglect, and suicide in recent years often had a common thread with the involvement of family members in online gambling practices.

"From there, we can see that the impact of online gambling is not only financially, but also from a social and psychological perspective. The government must immediately eradicate online gambling to its roots," continued Puan.

Puan also considered that the handling of online gambling must be carried out comprehensively by involving various parties and using a sustainable approach.

"Overcoming online gambling, including for children and adolescents, requires cooperation between the government, social media platforms, internet service providers, and the wider community," he explained.

Furthermore, the PDIP legislator for the Central Java electoral district responded to a report from the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis (PPATK) which revealed that the value of the circulation of online gambling funds in Indonesia had reached Rp 1,200 trillion throughout the year. According to him, this report is surprising as well as contracting the nation's collective conscience.

"Not only because of the large value of the money that exceeds the national education budget but also this fact indicates that the digital financial control system has very crucial problems," explained Puan.

Based on information, the figure of the turnover of judol money amounting to IDR 1.2 trillion jumped dramatically from the previous year which had touched up to IDR 981 trillion. This means that there has been an increase of more than IDR 200 trillion in just a few months. Puan agreed that this could be considered a condition that threatens the integrity of the legal, financial and social system as a whole.

"So we encourage the government to tighten digital rules and literacy because online gambling expansion cannot be separated from the sophistication of developing financial technology much faster than the adaptation of state regulations and supervision," said the former Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture.

Puan also encouraged the involvement of various elements of the nation to overcome the problem of online gambling. Including from the educational environment, such as anti-judol campaigns in schools.

"The education curriculum and public campaigns must contain the dangers and social implications of online gambling. There must be many approaches taken, so it's just a moralistic approach," added Puan.

Puan also assessed that a new financial system is needed that requires an adaptive regulatory update to dispel judolistic practices.

"The state must really be present to address the problem of judol. Otherwise, we will continue to witness trillions of rupiah which should strengthen economic resilience and disappear in a dark system that is not above the law," said the chairman of the PDIP DPP.

"Make sure judol airports are eradicated, not only the middle players or small actors so that judol activities do not die one thousand, grow. This is at the same time to ensure fair enforcement," continued Puan.

In addition, Puan assessed that regulations are also needed that can tighten supervision of banking, e-wallet, and cellular operators suspected of facilitating online gambling transactions. "The Financial Services Authority (OJK) and Bank Indonesia can apply administrative sanctions to institutions that have proven negligent," he said.

Puan also ensured that the DPR would continue to oversee the issue of eradicating online gambling. "The eradication of online gambling must be our joint commitment to ensure that the next generation of the nation is free from activities that can damage their future," concluded Puan.