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Indonesia
is the world’s biggest Muslim nation. (Reuters)
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Responding
to the debate, current governor Sutiyoso melantik said that illegal
gambling and prostitution have given him headaches and that he is
seeking a ‘correct and profitable solution’ to the problems.
The
Times said that a team of
government officials and city councilors visited Macau recently to
study its casino scene.
The
head of the Jakarta Tourism Office, Haryanto Badjuri, told paper
that although all religions prohibit gambling, it still is a
social disease.
“It
is a social disease that never goes away so we must minimize the
impact to the public at large,” he said.
While
Islam permits a variety of games and sports, it prohibits
any game which involves betting, that is, which has an element of
gambling in it.
There
are many objectives behind this strict prohibition of gambling, such
as the fact that gambling, which includes raffling or the lottery
makes a person dependent on chance, ‘luck’ and empty wishes,
taking him away from honest labor, serious work and productive effort.
Another
point is that in Islam, an individual’s property is sacred; it may
not be taken from him except through lawful exchange or unless he
gives it freely as a gift or in charity. Accordingly, taking it from
him by gambling is unlawful.
Besides,
gambling has its own compulsion. The loser plays again in hope of
winning the next game in order to regain his earlier losses, while the
winner plays again to enjoy the pleasure of winning, impelled by greed
for more. Because of this addiction, gambling is a danger to the
society as well as to the individual.
A
study done by the University of Indonesia’s Center of Structural
Development several years ago showed that money generated from at
least 34 gambling dens in Jakarta reached 300 billion rupiah (S$53
million) every night.
Sutiyoso
had twice floated the idea of legalizing gambling in the past four
years, only to drop it after protests by Muslim groups.
Wealthy
People Island
City
councilors are divided in their views, with representatives of secular
parties tending to favor legalizing gambling in certain areas, the
paper said.
“Gambling
is an age-old problem that exists in every corner of the world, so we
must find a worldly solution,” Johny Wenas Polii of the Democratic
Party said.
But
Islamic groups maintained their opposition to the idea.
“It's
not just from a religious point of view, but there is a law that bans
gambling - plus it would have an adverse impact on the morality of the
nation,” Ahmad Heriawan of the Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party
said.
Others
believe that the opposition is outnumbered by those who support the
idea or simply do not care.
“Those
who said gambling should remain outlawed fail to see the big
picture,” Adrian Maelite, the secretary-general of the Association
of Indonesian Entertainment Centre, said.
He
has proposed that some of the islands in the Thousand Islands chain be
a designated site for gambling.
“By
setting aside an island for gambling and catering mainly to the
wealthy people, we can protect the poor from the negative effect of
gambling,” he said.
