Legal gambling urged

Legal gambling urged

The Indonesian Association of Nightspot Owners (Asphindo)
urged the city administration on Friday to set up localized
official gambling on an island in Kepulauan Seribu (the Thousand
Islands).

The association's secretary-general Adrian Mailite said the
localization was needed to prevent the mushrooming of illegal
gambling dens in the city.

"We supported the idea that gambling should be located far
from here. It could be at the Thousand islands," Adrian told
reporters after meeting with Governor Sutiyoso at City Hall.

He revealed hundreds of gambling dens operated here at
present, especially in West Jakarta, on Jl. Kunir and along Jl.
Hayam Wuruk.

Earlier research, conducted by the University of Indonesia,
stated that gambling here could not be eliminated since it had
become part of the local culture, and suggested the
administration set up localized gambling.

Sutiyoso supported the research results, hinting at the
possibility of a gambling area being established on an
unpopulated island in the Thousand Islands, north of Jakarta.

City Council chairman Edy Waluyo and councillors from the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle supported the idea of an
official gambling location but councillors from Muslim-based
parties rejected it. --JP