Moves against gambling

After decades of little serious effort to fight gambling, the new National Police chief's bold announcement that he planned to completely eradicate gambling nationwide came as a quite a surprise.

Gen. Sutanto's move on his first day in office should send a strong signal to gambling racketeers and also to the many corrupt police officers who support the enterprise.

In Jakarta, city police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani new-found zealotry on gambling meant that he went one better, pledging to halt all gambling in the city within just three days, shorter than the already implausible one-week deadline given to him by Sutanto.

Accomplishing this feat it appeared was deceptively simple. Firman gathered all sub-district and municipal chiefs of police in Jakarta, Depok and Bekasi and had them sign a contract about fighting gambling. The contract mandated the replacement of the district police chiefs if after three days people were still reporting the existence of gambling dens in their areas.

Gambling is illegal in this country. But many argue that its impact on younger generations is far less hazardous then drugs, which are known to destroy the lives of people of all ages. In this light, the police's decision to make gambling eradication their top priority is questionable.

However, gambling in this country is also symptomatic of another problem; weak law enforcement because of corruption in the police. And because of this, Sutanto's decree on gambling could be seen in a more positive light. Perhaps, as some surmised, it was as much about internal police reform as a crackdown on vice.

In big cities like Jakarta, gambling -- especially big-time gambling -- has become a cash cow for law enforcers. It is an open secret that gambling dens in many parts of Jakarta are protected by the police. A senior officer recently told a reporter in an interview that many police chiefs in Jakarta had received money from illegal casino owners for a long time. It was these police chiefs who then tipped off gambling owners once a raid was scheduled, the officer disclosed.

Reports of a certain underground casino in West Jakarta said it had "armed guards", making it impossible for strangers to get in.

In February this year, a raid on a house used as a gambling den in Taman Palem, West Jakarta, almost turned into a gun battle when a group of officers from the National Police were encountered by local policemen, who were protecting the illegal activity. Unofficial sources revealed that the Taman Palem gambling organizer regularly paid billions of rupiah in fees to the police for protection. Firman claimed at that time that he knew nothing about any large-scale gambling in his jurisdiction.

To top it all off, a group of casino owners claimed recently that several two- and three-star generals based at the National Police Headquarters were their backers.

The initial results of Firman's vow to clean up Jakarta from gambling was the arrest of a large number of operators of the illegal togel lottery and the seizure of gambling paraphernalia from areas in all municipalities.

These raids, however, did little to impress most people, who assumed that the police were prosecuting small-time operators and leaving the big fish alone.

This idea was given more credence when a resident of Kota Bambu Utara, West Jakarta, who was helping the police raid gambling dens in his area, told reporters police raided two small gambling dens but left many others untouched.

If this is the case, it is obvious that any claims made by city police chiefs about eradicating gambling in their areas are absurd.

So has anything changed? Are police more serious than before about cracking down on gambling? And what was the motive behind Firman's sudden pledge to eradicate gambling in the city? Firman only jumped when Sutanto rocked the boat. Why didn't he initiate a war on gambling on his first day as Jakarta Police chief in July last year?

The three-day deadline Firman gave to his subordinates to cleanse the city of gambling could also indicate that he and his officers had already located all the gambling dens in Jakarta but had done nothing about them.

As a public relations effort, the police's pledge to cut down on gambling has been cheered on by some people, but it has been viewed cynically by many others -- including those on the force.

Speaking anonymously, one senior police officer at the Jakarta Police Headquarters said that the gambling raids were half- hearted ones because the municipal police chiefs were only acting to keep their jobs.

If one believes his comments, this would mean that the police's moves are all hot air, meaningless window-dressing that does not even succeed as a PR campaign because no one believes it.

Or perhaps this senior officer is just another cynic, undermining Sutanto and Firman's efforts because he is threatened by their plan. Maybe what we are seeing is exactly what it appears to be; a well-intentioned police campaign to rid the country of an immoral vice, and something that we should all support.

Which way would you bet?