PPATK or The Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center has detected over 7,000 transactions on gambling websites. These involve House of Representatives members and House Secretariat employees.
Under Indonesian law, gambling is a crime. It is also punishable by up to six years imprisonment. Ivan Yustiavandana, the PPATK Chairman said recently that once the government gives the order, data about these gambling transactions, allegedly involving House members and employees, will be handed over to the Ethics Council.
During a hearing with the House’s legal and security affairs commission at the parliament building in Jakarta, Yustiavandana said that overall, gambling transactions involving members of the House of Representatives and regional legislative councils total 63,000. But within the House alone, they have detected around 7,000 transactions.
He also added that the total value of these transactions nearly reached Rp 25 billion or $1.5 million, with individual transactions ranging from hundreds of millions to billions per person.
Yustiavandana also said that more than 1,000 House members and local councilors were involved in online gambling.
The government of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has launched a crackdown on online gambling, establishing an inter-agency task force to track down and close gambling websites, freeze their accounts, and arrest suspected gamblers.
House member Johan Budi questioned the follow-up actions of the PPATK’s findings during the hearing.
He asked Mr. Ivan what will the task force do after this? The findings surprised the public, but what’s next?
A politician from PDI-P (The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle) has suggested that the task force take serious measures against gambling operators by freezing their accounts and taking down their websites.
Johan expressed surprise upon learning that online gambling in Indonesia involved Rp 600 trillion or $36.5 billion in bet money.
He said that the PPATK is part of the task force, which shouldn’t stop at merely making announcements. It must take concrete actions.
