PORTALJABAR, BANDUNG CITY - Acting Governor of West Java Bey Machmudin reacted strongly to the case of extortion that occurred at the Al Jabbar Grand Mosque, Gedebage, Bandung City.

Bey said that cases of extortion in Al Jabbar should not be repeated, as well as in other public places in West Java. "There is no place for extortion in West Java," he said in a statement to the media, Sunday (14/4/2024).

According to him, the incident of extortion that went viral on social media will be a momentum to clean up extortion-free public services in West Java. "Extortion at the Al Jabbar Mosque is our momentum to eradicate extortion in West Java," he said.

His party also asked the ranks of the West Java Provincial Government to address this serious problem, considering that cases and complaints of extortion do not only occur in Al Jabbar. There are still extortion in tourist areas and the public service sector.

"Saber Extortion must also be optimized to prevent cases of extortion like Al Jabbar from recurring in other places," he said.

Specifically regarding extortion in Al Jabbar, the West Java Provincial Government together with the Executive Council of the Al Jabbar Mosque, according to him, have held a meeting with all relevant stakeholders. "This morning the viral extortion case was closed," he said.

Bey admitted that the management of Al Jabbar in the future must also be improved considering that the operational costs of this monumental mosque reach billions per month.

"Al Jabbar and the provincial government's assets will have a lot of problems if they are not managed well. "Because we only think about building, but other settings don't think," he said.

According to Bey, the community also needs to know the size of the maintenance budget so they can jointly control the management of the mosque. "This means that we have to look for other sectors and opportunities so that these operational costs can be handled," explained Bey.