By: Anindira Putri Maheswani )*
Religious Community Organizations (Ormas) provide full support to the Government’s efforts to completely eradicate the practice of online gambling or online gambling in the country.
With full support from religious organizations in society, the efforts to completely eradicate the practice of online gambling by the Indonesian Government will become more optimal and optimal.
So, in the future, if all parties are able to synergize and fully support the efforts to eradicate online gambling by the Indonesian Government, it is not impossible that the nation’s next generation will be free from illegal practices that seriously damage the norms and moral values of the country.
The Central Leadership Council of the Kirsten Youth Movement (GAMKI) fully supports the steps taken by the Indonesian Government through the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kemenkominfo) to completely eradicate the practice of online gambling on a massive scale in Indonesia.
The General Chairperson (Ketum) of the GAMKI DPP, Sahat Martin Philip Sinurat along with all GAMKI regional and branch administrators throughout Indonesia stated that they were all ready to work together with the Government to eradicate online gambling.
Not half-hearted, this mass organization has even launched a National Movement to Eradicate Online Gambling, especially through a digital literacy program together with the synod and church youth.
Apart from that, this religious mass organization also fully supports the security forces to be able to arrest all online gambling bookies who have been causing great misery to ordinary people.
Apart from socializing digital literacy to the public, efforts to prevent online gambling can also be done by providing some kind of counseling or recovery assistance for survivors of online gambling victims.
Clergy must be involved as well as psychologists, in addition to the Government’s efforts through the Ministry of Communication and Information to take down various online gambling sites. With the role of clergy and psychologists, young people who are already addicted to online gambling can receive assistance.
Meanwhile, other religious organizations in Indonesia, namely Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, have all agreed to work together to eradicate the practice of online gambling.
The government itself will also continue to involve religious leaders to prevent the spread of this illegal practice. With the government’s efforts involving religious figures, it then brought a positive response from religious mass organizations.
Secretary General of the Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU) Executive Board Saifullah Yusuf or Gus Ipul said that the practice of online gambling is a common problem that must be eradicated together.
Of course, NU very much welcomes the seriousness of the government, including religious leaders within NU, to eradicate online gambling. As one of the largest mass organizations in Indonesia, NU will continue to convey messages about the dangers of this illegal practice in every religious activity in society.
Moreover, online gambling itself is clearly prohibited by religion. The NU Da’wah Institute continues to be involved in formulating how every religious activity they hold to insert a message about how dangerous online gambling is.
Not only that, it also aims to build society to better understand and understand how many and big the risks and consequences are and what the prohibitions are from a religious perspective.
The message about the dangers of online gambling is not only at recitation events, but also throughout schools and madrasas. Because apart from being sinful, playing gambling also has a number of other bad risks psychologically, economically and socially.
Likewise, the General Secretary of PP Muhammadiyah, Abdul Mu’ti, also welcomed the government’s efforts to involve religious leaders in preventing the practice of online gambling.
The involvement of religious leaders is a very good idea from the government. For now, at least efforts to overcome unlawful practices can most likely be carried out through mental and social development.
For your information, the practice of online gambling has recently continued to mushroom in Indonesia. And what is even sadder is that this activity is widespread among young people who are the next generation of the nation.
If negligence occurs, it will certainly be very dangerous for the future of this country if the youth do not do anything positive, but instead become addicted to playing online gambling.
All parties have agreed that the threat of online gambling is increasingly becoming a serious problem and must be faced together. Moreover, most of the victims of online gambling are people with small incomes, so their family’s economy is increasingly strangled.
For this reason, various religious organizations in Indonesia, including NU and Muhammadiyah, provide their full support to the government’s efforts, steps and strategies to completely eradicate the practice of online gambling so that it does not become more widespread and continues to damage the nation’s young generation.
)* The author is a contributor to the Persada Institute