Jakarta needs legal places for gaming: UI center
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A study center at the University of Indonesia recommended on Monday that the city administration set up a government-regulated gaming center to control the rapid increase of illegal gambling here.
Head of the Structural Development Study Center, Prof.S. Budhisantoso, said Jakarta needed an official gambling den as part of an urban system in a metropolitan city.
"The administration should regulate gambling. Almost all metropolitan cities are equipped with controlled gambling centers," Budhisantoso told a discussion at Sofyan Hotel, Central Jakarta.
He said the administration could set up a casino either here in the city or on one of the many islands of Kepulauan Seribu (the Thousand Islands).
He said that regulated gambling could contribute to the city's revenue if the administration could control it.
Budhisantoso, who is a professor of anthropology, said that the administration could not hope to put an end to illegal gambling since it has become part of the culture for certain groups of people.
The recommendation to legalize gambling was based on the center's research.
"But it depends on the administration whether to use our recommendation or not," he said.
He revealed that there were gambling activities in Kampung Ambon, West Jakarta, and the area is relatively safe as the local youths are not involved in brawls or crimes.
Conversely, the youths in the Matraman area of Central Jakarta, where there are no gambling houses, are often involved in street fights and criminal behavior.
The center's head researcher, Riza Hikmat, revealed that, based on its preliminary study, in general, gambling here could be divided into two types: numbers games and casinos.
He said playing numbers, an informal, illegal type of lottery, (locally called toto gelap or togel) was mushrooming in traditional markets and densely-populated areas, such as Pasar Genjing, Central Jakarta, Jatinegara, East Jakarta and Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta.
He said a small-time numbers agent could earn between Rp 6.6 million (US$733) and Rp 13 million a week.
But it was difficult to predict the income of the casino gambling, which reportedly takes place in many areas of West and North Jakarta, he said.
Meanwhile, legal expert Loeby Lukman said, according to the criminal code, gambling is forbidden, except if it has a permit from local authorities.
"In the colonial era, the permit came from the Dutch governor general, while in the more recent past, the permits were issued by then-Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin. So it depends on the local administration to legalize it or not," Loeby of the university's law school, said.
He agreed that legalized gambling could have some positive outcomes, such as contributing to the city's income and creating other economic activities.
Most Jakartans realize that people can easily organize illegal gambling rackets, which have allegedly been secretly and illegally supported by certain government officials, the police or military personnel.