Asian Games Organizers Still Trying to Fix Ticket Problems; Scalpers Arrested
August 22, 2018 | 1:56 pm
Jakarta. The organizers of the Asian Games said it is still trying to sort out a glitch that has seen many sports fans being unable to purchase tickets, while several alleged scalpers have also been arrested since the opening of this year's event on Saturday (18/08).
"I searched for online tickets all morning yesterday, but they told me it had been sold out. I also tried to find some at a ticket box in Senayan [in South Jakarta], but they also said all tickets were also sold out. Yet, according to a friend, the arena was not even full; it is so strange," Daryadi, a spectator from Depok, West Java, said about the women's volleyball match between Indonesia and Japan at the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex in Jakarta on Sunday.
Suara Pembaruan reported that only 75 percent of the seats were occupied during the match, which saw Japan beat the host in three sets.
Saiful, a volleyball fan from Sentul, West Java, encountered a similar problem.
Technical problems saw the Indonesia Asian Games Organizing Committee (Inasgoc) replacing its online ticketing partner, Kiostix.com, with Blibli.com, one of Indonesia's largest e-commerce firms, shortly before Saturday's opening ceremony.
"We will fix this problem over the next two or three days, as there is a conflict between the online systems of Kiostix and our new partner, Blibli," Inasgoc spokesman Muhammad Buldansyah told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday.
Buldansyah said the conflict occurred when the two companies' online systems were integrated and that this would take time to resolve.
"The Kiostix system shows that the tickets have been sold out; that's why Blibli also cannot do anything because [the tickets] are not available in the system despite many seats often still being available," he said.
"The only solution for now is for people to buy tickets offline at ticket kiosks outside venues, to which we have allocated around 20 percent of the total tickets available per game," he added.
Blibli said the problem was related to a technical issue involving the Kiostix system.
"All ticket sales are live. There are some things that must be resolved manually, as they [Kiostix] have an issue with their system," Blibli chief executive Kusumo Martanto told the Jakarta Globe.
Another problem involves ticket scalpers, some of whom, which according to Buldansyah have been arrested as they were breaking the law. Inasgoc only allows the sale of four tickets per person per transaction to avoid scalping.
"The scalpers can buy [tickets], but we have many undercover supervisors. Some of them [scalpers] were arrested ... on Monday for example, when 10 were caught," he said.
Buldansyah added that scalpers who are caught will be prosecuted.
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