Council to draw up antigambling law

BEKASI: The Bekasi City Council has decided to establish a special committee to draw up a bylaw on gambling.

"This town has become a city of gambling ... We will fight to see a tougher law on gambling in Bekasi," councillor Wahyu Prihantono, who is chairman of the majority Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), was quoted as saying by Tempointeraktif.com on Monday.

Another councillor Heri Koswara explained that the special committee will have 17 members tasked to make a regulation effective enough to eradicate gambling in Bekasi.

Both the council members and the municipality's chapter of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) had criticized the administration for the latter's failure to eradicate gambling.

Mayor Akhmad Zurfaih denied accusations that he was protecting gambling rackets as he had earlier refused to draw up an antigambling bylaw.

"I want to learn everything about it first so when such a law is imposed, we'll be ready," he said. -- JP