Education Minister Abdul Mu'ti Speaks Out on 200,000 Indonesian Children Exposed to Online Gambling

Education Minister for Primary and Secondary (Mendikdasmen) Abdul Mu’ti has spoken about findings by the Ministry of Communications and Digital (Komdigi) that 200,000 Indonesian children have been exposed to online gambling (judol). Ironically, around 80,000 of them are under 10 years old. Mu’ti strongly suspects that hundreds of thousands of youngsters were initially ensnared through ignorance, as well as a lack of education and mitigation. According to him, the majority of children are thought to intend merely to play games on their mobile phones, but end up wandering into judol sites due to lax parental oversight. ‘Because some of those exposed [to online gambling] are also children who partly because they do not know. So, they might play games, then get lost into online gambling,’ Mu’ti said when asked at the Islamic Center building, Surabaya, on Wednesday (20 May). Besides the issue of devices with no control, Mu’ti noted environmental influences also contribute to making children easily distracted by judol activities. To ensure there is, for example, environmental influence or certain circumstances that lead them to become involved in online gambling. He emphasised that the Ministry has moved quickly to implement comprehensive preventive measures. He admitted that they have coordinated with law enforcement officers and cross-ministerial colleagues. Concrete steps include agreeing on rules restricting the use of social media for children under 16, in collaboration with five other ministers and the Indonesian Police Chief, General Listyo Sigit Prabowo. ‘We have signed a joint agreement among six ministries, including with the Police Chief, concerning the use of digital technology, including restricting social media use for those under 16,’ he stressed. Preventive measures have also been embedded into the formal education system. The Mendikdasmen has officially included modules on the dangers of online gambling in the MPLS (Masa Pengenalan Lingkungan Sekolah) programme for new students. ‘We, through the MPLS programme, will include a module on the dangers of online gambling for schoolchildren.’ However, Mu’ti cautioned that efforts to rescue the country’s future generation from the addiction of online gambling cannot rest solely on government as regulator. He urged strengthening the four pillars of the education ecosystem to break the chain of the problem. ‘We will provide ongoing education, including our effort to strengthen the four pillars of the education ecosystem: schools, homes, communities, and media. This is also important to ensure our children are not exposed to online gambling, which is now a very serious issue,’ Mu’ti concluded. Minister of Communications and Digital (Me Komdigi) Meutya Hafid revealed that almost 200,000 Indonesian children have been exposed to online gambling (judol). She said around 80,000 of them are under 10 years old. According to her, the finding is a serious alarm for the future of the nation’s generation. Meutya emphasised that online gambling is a serious threat that damages family finances, triggers domestic violence, fractures social ties, and ruins children’s futures. ‘Online gambling is a scam whose system ensures players almost always lose in the long run. Therefore, we all must become guardians of education, remind one another, and protect families and children from the widespread illegal practices,’ Meutya said in a statement, on Wednesday (13/5).