Gambling talks end in tension
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A discussion aimed at addressing gambling in the capital on Tuesday ended in tension when a number of participants expressed scorn for the event organizer, who they accused of being manipulative.
Some participants grumbled and harshly criticized the organizer, a local non-government organization, for attempting to divert attention away from the issue to support its hidden agenda to endorse a proposal to legalize gambling here through the localization of gambling.
Supianto, who claimed to be a representative from a youth non- governmental organization, blasted the organizing committee for allegedly furtively disseminating information about the proposal.
"I call on the committee to stop using the forum to promote the proposal," said Supianto at the top of his voice, followed by applause and a hail of support.
The discussion, which was organized by the Solidarity Forum for an Urban Community, featured five panelists representing the police, the business community, the Muslim community and the city administration.
The situation became tense following a complaint by the last panelist, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saleh Saaf, pertaining to the discussion theme.
"The committee, in an invitation sent earlier, only said that the discussion theme was about attempts to eradicate gambling. It did not mention the localization of gambling like the topic on the banner," Saleh told the participants.
He said the police would remain tough on gambling, but he warned people against taking the law into their own hands when it came to gamblers, referring to raids by vigilante groups, including the Islam Defenders Front (FPI).
Research by the University of Indonesia's Institute for the Study of Social Institutions revealed that gambling could thrive in the city with the help of corrupt military and police personnel as well as city administration officials.
Some participants used the question-and-answer session to criticize and question the committee over the alleged ploy.
Strangely, it was the same participants who applauded and called out support for the presentation given by the first three panelists, who supported the idea of localizing gambling.
The first three panelists were representatives from the business community, the city administration and the Ministry of Manpower.
Hamdan Razid, the fourth panelist from the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI), said that localized gambling would be acceptable provided that it was a part of an attempt to eradicate gambling gradually.
Adrian Maelete of the Association for Nightspot Owners (Aspehindo) contended that localized gambling might contribute significant income to the city's coffers besides minimizing rampant illegal gambling in the city.
"(Illegal) gambling sees an estimated massive turnover of Rp 200 billion a day. To charge 30 percent of the turnover would be a promising contribution to the city's coffers," Adrian said.