Jakarta – The online gambling case or crisis in Indonesia has reached emergency level, threatening various aspects of people’s lives. This problem is increasingly worrying because the victims are becoming more and more massive, including the younger generation who are trapped from an early age, causing loss of life.
One tragic case that shows the serious impact of online gambling is the incident that occurred in Semarang. A man with the initials SR (32), who works as an online motorcycle taxi driver, was found hanging himself at his home on Wednesday (19/6/2024).
SR spent a lot of money and pawned his house certificate to play online gambling, but finally experienced despair and decided to end his life. The victim’s wife, who had just given birth, found her husband dead after receiving the last message entrusting their child.
“Before he died, the victim also pawned his house certificate because he ran out of money for online gambling,” said Semarang Police Chief, Commissioner Irwan Anwar via short message.
He also explained that the victim committed suicide when the victim’s house was empty.
“The victim who worked daily as an online motorcycle taxi (ojol) committed suicide when the house was empty, because his wife was at her parents’ house at that time,” said Commissioner Irwan.
Meanwhile, Head of the DKI Jakarta Fire and Rescue Service (Gulkarmat), Satriadi Gunawan, explained that in the last week his party had received three reports regarding residents trying to end their lives or commit suicide because they were in debt due to online gambling addiction.
“Now we are starting to see incidents (due to online gambling), many people want to commit suicide. We carry out suicide rescue duties. “This week there have been three incidents of people wanting to commit suicide,” said Satriadi.
Satriadi added that this incident was an evaluation and illustration of the high impact of gambling, including online gambling.
According to the data collected, quite a few young people are victims of this gambling. Many of them fall into the trap because of easy access to online gambling sites and minimal supervision from the surrounding environment.
It is hoped that strict law enforcement will be able to provide a deterrent effect to online gambling players, both bookies and players. Apart from that, it is also hoped that this step will be a lesson for the public to be more alert and stay away from detrimental gambling practices.
For this reason, President Joko Widodo’s steps to form an Online Gambling Eradication Task Force in accordance with Presidential Decree (Keppres) Number 21 of 2024 should be appreciated.
The active role of society in monitoring each other and protecting the younger generation from the dangers of online gambling is also very necessary. Good cooperation between the government, security forces and the community is the main key in overcoming this online gambling crisis.
By appreciating the law enforcement efforts that have been carried out, it is hoped that more parties will be moved to contribute to fighting this problem, for the sake of a better future for the younger generation that is free from the trap of gambling. (*)
