Why Poker Online in Indonesia Has Riots

Recently, I came across a message board discussion about poker online in Indonesia. Specifically, the topic was the game in Jakarta where people, mostly Westerners, try to participate in the game as it's quite a big concern for them.

Of course, many players in Jakarta can get upset with local player's actions. It's quite usual to see people from Jakarta blocking people from playing Poker Online in Jakarta due to "racism"Islamophobia". There are many games like this online, in fact.

This can be because of some player's puncher's mentality in the local game. This is not uncommon, as Indonesians have some serious lack of time to learn how to play the game. Or they may be upset because of a player's spamming chat, or making other people feel annoyed.

These problems are beyond the actual poker. The issue at hand here is Indonesia, which is located in the country of peninsular Borneo. This place has a large Muslim population in comparison to the percentage of Christian or Hindu population. Even though the percentages are fairly equal, the average number of people that practice Islam is quite high in the Jakarta area.

In some countries, the populations are so close, people do not feel bothered when a person from another religion practices. But here, the opposite happens. Indonesian people are used to learning about religion before starting their work or studies. People here will usually feel offended by the practice of religion, which seems to be treated as something that is normal in Indonesia.

The problem is actually quite common on the Jakarta neighborhood. For some people, Indonesians who practice Islam will go out of their way to find the right time to practice or speak about it. And then other people will go out of their way to prevent them from playing the game or blocking them from talking to them. It is a war between two different cultures and religions.

We can see the same thing in Internet usage. Some Indonesians are used to having Internet privileges in cafes and restaurants, while others try to hide away their computers and laptops in their bedroom. Some people will use VPN and P2P connections. Most of the Indonesians who think differently about religion are some of the devout believers, so you can tell that their cultural behavior are not really compatible with the other players.

Poker online in Indonesia, then, should not be overly critical of these kinds of activities. I personally wouldn't want to lose my social life due to someone playing a game online against me or someone's challenge, but I guess that the situation is similar to that of a coffee shop with both sides being critical of the other side's way of life.