Gambling: Can police bite the hand that feeds them?

Abdul Khalik The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Immediately after taking office in July, National Police chief Gen. Sutanto ordered police chiefs across the country to crack down on gambling, threatening that those who failed to deliver would lose their posts and face criminal charges.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani took up the challenge by announcing publicly that he would close down all gambling dens in the capital and surrounding towns within one week. In effect, Firman was suggesting that he could do better than the police chief.

Gambling centers did indeed appear to be closed, but people familiar with gambling in the capital said it was business as usual even at the height of the crackdown.

"We know very well how the police behave. They are serious only at the beginning of a campaign. They staged massive crackdowns on gambling just to please the public in the first few months.

"We had stop just for a while and then resumed operations soon after. Gambling is one of the police's sources of income, you know," Yohannes, who owns several gambling dens in the capital, told The Jakarta Post recently.

City police arrested hundreds of suspected gamblers immediately after the campaign was announced, but the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office revealed in November that it had not received one single case file on gambling from either the Jakarta Police nor the National Police Headquarters.

The public is cynical about the police's seriousness in fighting gambling as no big gambling den owners have been arrested.

High-ranking police officers are thought to accept monthly payments from gambling lords, while low-ranking officers earn additional income from street gambling, including togel (illegal lotteries).

"How can they arrest us when we give them huge amounts of money every month? Every gambling boss in the capital gets protection from high-ranking officers either with the Jakarta Police or the National Police. We wouldn't have the courage to operate without a guarantee from a police general," Yohannes said.

The way police handled gambling activities is indicative of the way other crimes were fought this year.

Hilman, 36, a resident of Kebon Jeruk in West Jakarta, for instance, complained that city police had failed to solve his case involving a stolen car.

After he bought a car, presumably from a businessman, Hilman tried to renew the car's registration, only to be arrested for buying a stolen car.

"I showed them (police) all of the car's documents to convince them that I got the car legally and that they should arrest the seller. But instead of tracking down the seller, some police officers forced me to leave the car at the Jakarta Police Headquarters and since then nothing has happened," Hilman told the Post.

He has no idea what happened to the car, let alone to the money that he gave the man who fraudulently sold him the car.

"I found out later that the police officers were friends with the seller. I forgot about getting my car back, but I swear I'll never ask the police for help again. I've had enough of them," Hilman said.

According to data from the Jakarta Police internal affairs division, the number of police officers reported for criminal involvement increased 400 percent to 80 this year, compared to merely 20 cases last year.

"Criminals know that they can buy police officers. They are not afraid of committing crimes over and over again. In this case, the law cannot deter people from criminal activity," University of Indonesia legal expert Rudy Satrio told the Post.

He said the involvement of police officers in crime, including robbery and drug dealing, for additional income also reduced their credibility when cracking down on those crimes.

According to data from the Jakarta Police, more than 4,000 armed robberies, some involving police officers, occurred this year, up from around 3,000 last year.

Special operations aimed at curbing traffic violations in the capital are seen by many as a way for city police to get additional income.

"I was ticketed in the operation, but I have no idea what I did wrong. They were just looking for mistakes to extort money for me. That's why I always feel nervous if a cop stands near me," Pujianto, an employee of a private bank, said.