Bandung City Park Overrun by Coin Hunters, Mayor Demands Halt
Bandung, Indonesia – Last Wednesday (8/1/2025) and Thursday (9/1/2025), a surge of students, teenagers, and young adults flocked to Sukajadi Park in Bandung City. Their mission? Hunting for gold coins in hopes of cashing them in for real money through the Jagat app. These individuals could be seen scouring the park area, sifting through leaf litter in search of gold, silver, or bronze coins. Some even circled the park, trying to pinpoint the coin locations while engaging in lively chatter about clues they had gathered. Sporting school uniforms or donning helmets and masks, these coin seekers made a deliberate pilgrimage to the park in search of treasure.
Outcry from the Mayor
Responding to this phenomenon, Acting Mayor of Bandung, A Koswara, called on the developers of the Jagat coin-hunting app to cease their activities immediately. The reason? Users had begun to damage public facilities, especially city parks, in their quest for coins. “If public facilities are being damaged, we must put a stop to it. Feel free to innovate with your app, but don’t harm public property. Repairing damaged parks is a tough task,” Koswara stated over the weekend at the Bandung City Hall. The Mayor further emphasized that the app developers had not sought permission from the Bandung City Government. “We have not received any requests for permission. This matter will be followed up by the Department of Communication and Information. If it is deemed unacceptable, it will be prohibited,” he added.
Seeking Solutions
In light of the situation, Koswara suggested redirecting coin-hunting activities to locations that would not harm public property, such as open fields or enclosed spaces. He expressed hope that similar apps could offer educational value to the public rather than causing damage to public facilities. “If you want to develop a points-based app, it should be linked to positive activities like cleaning up garbage or depositing plastic bottles at recycling banks. That would be more educational and have a positive impact on society,” he remarked.
Personal Perspectives
One young man from Eldorado, Dadan, shared his experience of deliberately visiting Sukajadi Park to hunt for coins based on the Jagat app’s guidance. He had only learned about the app the day before from a friend who had earned 900,000 Indonesian Rupiah by exchanging coins. Dadan had seen a TikTok influencer successfully obtain coins and was intrigued by the possibility of his own luck. “It went viral last December (the Jagat app), and then I saw a content creator in Bandung win coins. So, I decided to join in out of curiosity,” he explained.
Another student, Ronal, admitted to intentionally going to Sukajadi Park with his friends after school to search for coins. He had discovered the game through TikTok, where it had gained popularity. “I found out about it on TikTok,” he said.
As revealed, the Jagat app features a treasure hunt game that involves searching for coins. Users are guided to locate coins through various clues provided by the app.
