'No more gambling in Jakarta': Police. 'Wanna bet?': Public
'No more gambling in Jakarta': Police. 'Wanna bet?': Public
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Dismissing widespread skepticism about their ability and
commitment to eradicate gambling in the city, the Jakarta Police
claimed on Monday that all gambling dens in the capital had been
closed down.
Jakarta Police deputy chief Brig. Gen. Bagus Ekodanto, who
headed the city police's crackdown on gambling, said there were
no more gambling operators working in the Greater Jakarta area
and commended police precinct and subprecinct chiefs for doing
their jobs well.
"You can see for yourself, there is no more gambling in the
capital. So we will not remove any chiefs or directors from their
positions. However, I will have to discuss the results with the
city police chief (Insp. Gen. Firman Gani) today," he said.
Jakarta Police along with officers from seven main centers
gave their progress reports on the gambling crackdown to National
Police chief Gen. Sutanto over the weekend.
Sutanto, who has a track record of being tough on gambling,
set a one-week deadline last Monday for provincial police chiefs
to eradicate gambling in their areas. He warned them that if they
did not comply, they would be fired and could face criminal
charges.
Firman quickly ordered his top officers, precinct and sub-
precinct chiefs to eradicate gambling in the capital in three
days, with the threat that if there was a single report of
gambling in any area, the police chief in that jurisdiction would
be relieved of their duty.
Shortly after Firman's order, police began raiding gambling
dens in Jakarta. They announced last Friday that they had
arrested more 500 suspects -- both players and gambling
operators.
However, several observers have called the drive against
gambling a bad joke, saying police were arresting small-time
gamblers only and leaving all the big fish untouched.
Executive director of the Independent Monitoring Alliance of
the State Apparatus David Ridwan Betz said police had done little
to raid areas like Harco Mangga Dua, Glodok in West Jakarta and
Ayer island that were large gambling centers, involving billions
of rupiah.
David said police already knew the identities of all the big
gambling bosses in the capital.
University of Indonesia legal expert Rudy Satrio said that
police needed to be brave enough to raid big gambling dens and
arrest their operators because they had the authority to do so.
Bagus smiled and said nothing on Monday when asked why no rich
or high-profile gamblers or operators had been arrested in the
police raids on gambling dens.