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