Council to draw up antigambling law

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