Police to quiz Batam mayor over gambling
Police to quiz Batam mayor over gambling
Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam, Riau
Following strong protests against gambling activities on Batam
Island, the local police are set to question Batam Mayor Nyat
Kadir who has issued a license for PT Dewa Menara Wisata to
organize a gambling center in Tering Bay, a tourist resort in
Nongsa subdistrict.
Chief of Batam Police, Sr. Comr. Suhartono, said on Monday
that the police would soon question the Batam mayor over
allegations that he had breached a bylaw prohibiting gambling
activities on the island.
An alliance of local non-governmental organizations and local
religious leaders have protested the widespread gambling and
prostitution on the island. They said that society was facing a
moral crisis because of the rampant prostitution and gambling.
According to the NGOs, many of the thousands of tourists from
Singapore and Malaysia make weekend visits to the island for
gambling and woman.
Batam has the third highest incidence of HIV/AIDS after Papua,
East Java and Jakarta.
The Independent Anticorruption Body (Bakin) disclosed recently
that the municipal administration had given a three-year license
to the company to manage the gambling activities in Tering Bay.
Suhartono, however, did not give an exact timetable for the
investigation.
He said that the investigation would be conducted by Riau
Police as there would be a conflict of interest in the
investigation because according to law, local police are part of
the municipal administration.
Earlier, spokesperson of Batam mayoralty, Suhartini, told The
Jakarta Post that the mayor was ready to face the police
investigation.
Suhartini remarked that the mayor has appointed a legal team
to deal with the investigation.
She, however, said that the administration should not be
blamed for authorizing PT Dewa Menara Wisata to build a gambling
center.
"A higher power from Jakarta forced the mayor and head of the
Batam tourism office to sign the contract with the company," she
said, refusing to disclose the identity of the Jakarta
businessman allegedly involved in the gambling business on the
island.
The head of the local tourism office, Buralimar, said that the
contract given to the company was part of the municipal
administration's program to accelerate tourist activities on the
island.
Separately, the head of the government prosecutor's office in
Batam, Zulkarnain, said that he was still waiting for the police
to finalize their investigation into case before his office would
process it further.
The head of the local chapter of Indonesian Ulemas Council
(MUI), Asyari Abbas, supported the police investigation into the
case, saying the mayor should be brought to justice.