What started out as a viral bullying case involving a minor and implicating a local entrepreneur in Surabaya, East Java, has grown into an investigation into online gambling amid the government’s intensified crackdown on the practice, which has spread across the nation.
The case of entrepreneur Ivan Sugianto first surfaced following a video that went viral on social media earlier this month. The video showed him and several other men going to a high school in Surabaya to confront a student who had allegedly been bullying his son.
In the video, Ivan was seen forcing the student to kneel, apologize and bark, as the student reportedly made fun of his son’s hairstyle by likening it to that of a poodle. The school filed a police report shortly after the incident.
Several days later, another video was widely circulated on social media showing Ivan making a public apology to the student he approached in the previous video as well as his family, the school and the public. Ivan also said in the video that he would turn himself in to the Surabaya Police.
It remained unclear when the video was first recorded and published.
But before he surrendered to law enforcement, Surabaya Police investigators arrested him at the arrival terminal of Juanda International Airport last Thursday after he arrived in Surabaya from Jakarta.