July 27, 2023
JAKARTA – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle’s (PDI-P) Jakarta office has said that it would remove Cinta Mega from her seat on the Jakarta City Council after she was caught playing a mobile game during a plenary meeting last week.
The decision was made during an internal meeting of the party’s Jakarta chapter on Tuesday.
“Every action has a consequence. And this [the removal] is the consequence for [Cinta’s] action,” PDI-P Jakarta chapter chairman Ady Wijaya told the press on Tuesday, as reported by Kompas.tv. “The party is strict about [this matter].”
He said he would wait for approval from the party’s central board regarding Cinta’s removal.
According to Ady, his office has also decided not to nominate Cinta for reelection in 2024.
Currently, the General Elections Commission (KPU) is verifying the candidates for the legislative elections, a process which will be completed in early November.
The PDIP’s central board, Ady said, would then decide who would replace Cinta on the City Council, and determine whether Cinta would be expelled from the party or not.
Cinta was caught last Thursday by members of the press playing a game on her tablet during a City Council plenary meeting regarding a planned bylaw about Jakarta’s 2022 regional budget report.
A video of the incident circulated on social media, and speculations were rife among netizens that Cinta was visiting an online gambling site. In the viral video, Cinta was seen playing what appeared to be an online slot machine.
Gambling, including through online platforms, is illegal in Indonesia.
Under the Criminal Code, anyone who is caught organizing and participating in gambling activities can face up to 10 years in prison and Rp 25 million (US$1,663) in fines.
The Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law, meanwhile, mandates six years behind bars and Rp 1 billion in fines for people found guilty of enabling online gambling.
Recently, newly appointed Communications and Information Minister Budi Arie Setiadi promised to ramp up efforts to eradicate rampant online gambling in the country.
Cinta has apologized following the backlash against her video. She denied that she visited an online gambling site and said that she only played a popular puzzle game called Candy Crush Saga.
“I apologize for the incident, especially to my party. I am ready to receive any form of sanction,” she said on Friday as reported by Kompas.com.
Cinta also said that she played the game while waiting for the plenary meeting to start and forgot to turn off her tablet after the meeting started. (nal)