Jakarta needs legal places for gaming: UI center
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.