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January 22, 2025 | 07:20 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The war on online gambling should be carried out by breaking up the networks. It should not be limited to speeches.
The dismantling of an online gambling network in Semarang shows that this illegal activity is still rife in Indonesia. However, at a time of increased government campaigns to battle online gambling, it appears that the authorities are not serious in carrying out their duties. The big bosses are never touched.
In Semarang, the police announced that the proceeds of online gambling had been used to build the Aruss Hotel. The police have named Firman Hertanto alias Aseng, a commissioner of Arta Jaya Putra, which manages the four-star hotel, a suspect in money laundering. He is accused of collecting money from online gambling to build the hotel in the capital of Central Java.
According to police, Firman has long been involved in the online gambling business. He is believed to control the illegal lottery known as togel in Semarang. In 2013, the police raided a gambling venue with the same address as the Aruss Hotel. They seized hundreds of gambling machines and arrested seven staff. Firman escaped unscathed from this raid.
This time police tracked the flows of funds resulting from online gambling. They traced financial transactions and the ownership of assets linked to Firman. He did not escape. This shows that the police are able to able to break up gambling networks more thoroughly if they do work seriously.
Unfortunately, investigations using the ‘follow the money’ method are not used to dismantle larger networks. When investigating an online gambling syndicate also involving a number of officials from the Communication and Digital Affairs Ministry a few months ago, for example, the police stopped after detaining low-level staff and operators on the ground.
It is possible that police officers were faced with a dilemma when continuing the investigation. If they continued following the money, it is not impossible that this would have led them to their colleagues or big bosses. It is no longer a secret that illegal gambling often involves senior law enforcement officers as backers. Investigators come up against a brick wall when facing this situation.
Only internal conflict between the big bosses makes it possible for investigations to continue smoothly, as happened in Semarang. The relationship between Firman and other gambling bosses broke down, and this reportedly triggered the police investigation. If this is true, it shows old practices are still being used: the authorities are only a tool for one side to use against a rival. This calls into doubt the seriousness of the authorities in continuing the battle against online gambling.
The administration of Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka continually boasts in public about the war on online gambling. According to data from the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), the sums of money involved in this activity increase every year. At the beginning of his administration, Prabowo ordered the authorities to act resolutely and said, “there are no backers” for illegal activities. But this statement is meaningless if the police are not serious in dismantling online gambling networks.
Leaving aside the motives, the police are clearly capable of tracing the flows of funds from online gambling, as was seen in Semarang. They only need a willingness to deal with other cases using the same methods. Other agencies like the PPATK have no objection to helping the police.
The war against online gambling should be continued by dismantling networks down to the grassroots level. The authorities should arrest the gambling bosses who take most of the proceeds of this crime and also law enforcement officers and officials who collude with them. Without this kind of seriousness, the war on online gambling will only go as far as speeches.
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