Ulemas Council against lottery for sports fund<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Ulemas Council will oppose a
\nplanned lottery to raise funds for sports, its deputy chairman
\nAli Yafie said over the weekend.<\/p>\n
\"It seems to me that the scheme, whatever it is called, is a
\nnew guise for gambling, which is banned,\" Ali said after
\nattending a discussion at the Istiqlal Mosque.<\/p>\n
Gambling is considered illegal according to Islamic teaching.
\nThe practice is also outlawed in this predominantly Moslem
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
Ali said the ulemas council would not call any internal
\nmeeting to discuss the fund raising, which is part of the Sports
\nAwareness Campaign.<\/p>\n
\"We received a letter from the National Sports Council asking
\nus to deliberate the new lottery proposal. But as far as I know,
\nthe ulemas council has decided not to accept the request,\" Ali
\nsaid as quoted by Antara.<\/p>\n
Deputy chairman of the Indonesian Consumers Protection Agency,
\nAgus Pambagio, said on Friday that an edict issued by the ulemas
\ncouncil could determine whether the new lottery scheme was
\ngambling or not. Agus himself said he was against the plan backed
\nthe sports council.<\/p>\n
The lottery promoter, Dali Taher, said last week the council
\nof ulemas had not shown any objection to the proposal.<\/p>\n
But Ali denied this claim, saying that the council instead
\nconsidered that the scheme would encouraging gambling.<\/p>\n
\"Fund raising of this sort would be hazardous for the public,
\nparticularly during the economic crisis. It would easily tempt
\npeople into gambling,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Dali, the sports council's deputy chairman Arie Sudewo and the
\ninspector general in the Ministry of Social Services Adang
\nRuchiatna presented the proposal to the ulemas council in April.<\/p>\n
The ulemas council secretary Ichwan Syam and executives,
\nincluding Ibrahim Husein, Nazri Adlani and Din Syamsuddin,
\nquestioned if the time was right to introduce such a fund raising
\nscheme.<\/p>\n
The sports council estimates it could earn Rp 100 billion
\n(US$7 million) from the scheme each year. It wants the money to
\nfinance a long-term project aimed at placing the country sixth in
\nthe 2006 Asian Games.<\/p>\n
Dali hoped the Ministry of Social Services would issue an
\ninitial permit for five years. But the ministry's secretary-
\ngeneral Syafei Anjasmaya said a special team would first have to
\nbe set up to study the proposal.<\/p>\n
Separately, former state minister of youth affairs and sports
\nHayono Isman said that raising funds from cigarette taxes would
\nbe better than a lottery.<\/p>\n
He said the lottery would only incite people to gamble.<\/p>\n
He urged the sports council, the youth affairs and sports
\nminister and all relevant government departments to consider all
\nthe impacts of the lottery.<\/p>\n
\"They must think about how to discourage gambling,\" he warned.<\/p>\n
Hayono proposed that funds be raised for sports through
\ncigarette taxes during his period as minister between 1993 and
\n1998, but his idea was rejected. (yan)<\/p>",
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