Gambler accused of bribery

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A man believed to be an agent of an illegal gambling operator has attempted to bribe an anti-drug abuse activist.

"The man who claimed to be a close friend of Alfian Tjahjono contacted me through a friend of mine and offered me Rp 250 million to stop me talking about the activities of the gambling financier," Singky Suwadji said on Thursday.

Police recently nabbed Alfian Tjahjono who is believed to be an operator of big gambling activities at his house on Jl. Dharmahusada Timur in Surabaya, Antara reported.

Police confiscated a total of 920 ecstasy pills, 3.7 grams of shabu (crystal metamphetamine), a gun and its bullets from him last Friday night.

"I will not be cowed into silence by the bribery attempt and will continue to speak out against drug abuse. Two-hundred-and- fifty million or even Rp 250 billion is peanuts to a gambling operator," the secretary of the National Anti-drug Movement (Granat) was quoted by the news agency as saying.

If the man's claim that he is Alfian's agent is true, he said, the police, prosecutors and judges on this case should be on guard as it was not unlikely that they may also attempt to bribe them.

"The people's patience is running thin. Should the police or the judges fail to mete out a punishment commensurate to the crime, I am afraid the people will take the law into their own hands," he said.

Granat chairman police Insp. Gen. Sumarsono and Granat secretary-general police Brig. Gen. Ashar Soerjobroto demanded on Tuesday that the judges give capital punishment to Alfian if proven guilty.