'Legal gambling zones won't solve the problem'

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The following is the third in a series of articles on gambling in the capital, which continues to thrive despite a legal ban.

The failure by the local police to stamp out illegal gambling has prompted some to call for legal gambling zones, but clerics and observers here oppose that proposal, arguing that such zones would not reduce the number of illegal gambling dens in the capital.

They also stressed that the only way to cut down on the number of casinos and illegal lotteries (togel) in the capital was by enforcing the laws consistently.

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) edict commission head Muarif Amin, said although the council had not issued an official edict on the issue, he strongly opposed any type of legalization of gambling.

"Gambling is banned by law and any gambling den should be closed down accordingly. Legal gambling zones will not diminish the number of gambling dens, but will only give justification for people to build more," he told The Jakarta Post.

He said that there was "no way" that the number of gambling houses would decrease if the city administration built a regulated gambling zone, claiming that only gamblers with high incomes would frequent such places.

"Gambling zones are just a way to keep gambling money in Indonesia, rather than gamblers taking their money to legal casinos in Malaysia and Australia. It never has been aimed at reducing gambling here," he deduced.

Gambling takes many forms in the capital and continues to be backed -- allegedly, since none have been taken to court -- by well-known figures and other state security personnel.

According to Article 303 of the Criminal Code and Article 2 of Law No. 7/1974, gambling operators and gamblers can be imprisoned for up to 10 years or recieve a hefty Rp 25,000 (US$2.63) fine if found guilty.

Former Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin recently renewed his call for its legalization.

While Ali was the governor from 1966 to 1977, gambling and prostitution were legal in certain areas in Jakarta, but the policy was scrapped when his tenure ended.

The former governor said recently that the city administration would be able to collect a huge amount of tax revenue from casinos and gambling dens, but instead, at the moment "protection money" in lieu of government taxes, was going into the pockets of a handful of law enforcement officers and not the administration's coffers.

He further argued that he was able to raise billions of rupiah from gambling tax revenues to finance many city development projects during his tenure.

Jakarta, Ali reportedly said, would have have never developed to the point it has (modern toll roads, malls, international hotels and skyscrapers) without gambling tax revenues, when it was legalized.

There is no official government data on how much money circulates in the gambling business on a nightly basis, but according to one insider, at least Rp 10 billion per night changes hands in just one large casino group in Jakarta, which operates some 20 gambling dens.

While acknowledging that gambling was a potential source of income, Ida Ruwaida, a sociologist from the University of Indonesia, said that many other factors should be considered besides the economic benefits, including different social and cultural values as well as religious teachings.

"Legalized gambling means forcing many people to accept values against their own. It will cause unrest, protests and possibly riots. I think the government must think carefully before deciding to legalize gambling," she said.

She cited an example of how prostitution continued to flourish everywhere even after it was legalized and regulated in one zone.

Meanwhile, legal expert Rudy Satrio argued that the legalization of gambling would merely be further evidence that Indonesia had given up on its duty to enforce the law.

"We have laws that ban gambling. Just because gambling is everywhere, and has been for decades, doesn't mean that we should legalize it. We have to pressure our law enforcers to do their jobs. They should not be cooperating with the gambling den operators," he told the Post.