"Along with Minister of Communication and Digital Meutya Hafid, we discussed the current social disaster, namely online gambling. We know that most of the perpetrators of online gambling are victims of online gambling fraud," he remarked on Thursday.
He noted that with a total of around 8.8 million people involved in online gambling in Indonesia, many of them have fallen into poverty after becoming victims of online gambling.
According to Iskandar, online gambling is a fraud that ultimately increases the poverty rate in Indonesia.
He then highlighted that such practices dampen the government's efforts to reduce poverty, especially in overcoming extreme poverty.
"We are pushing efforts to overcome extreme poverty and empowering those who are vulnerable to poverty to become independent. If we do not overcome online gambling from upstream and downstream, this phenomenon will increase the poverty rate," he emphasized.
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He highlighted that the government is applying two strategies to overcome this problem, with the first being supervision of the digital aspect by the Ministry of Communication and Digital, including monitoring the banking transactions involved.
The second entails increasing digital literacy in the community.
"We must educate the community that online gambling is a fraud that must be eliminated," the minister stressed.
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As a preventive measure, he emphasized the importance of involving all government apparatuses, from village assistants, Family Hope Program (PKH) assistants, and development cadres to local governments, to disseminate information on the dangers of online gambling.
According to the minister, campaigns through digital platforms and direct meetings with the community are also important to educate the people, especially those most vulnerable, to fight online gambling.
Iskandar affirmed that such efforts are expected to prevent the increasingly widespread negative impacts of online gambling that threaten the welfare of the Indonesian people.
"The grassroots community especially, do not be deceived by this practice," he reminded.
