Consumer group gives partial nod to lottery
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Consumers Foundation gave a qualified endorsement yesterday to a planned lottery to collect funds for sports development.
Chairwoman Tini Hadad, speaking after a hearing with officials National Sports Council, said the foundation principally accepted the proposal but demanded a guarantee the fund-raising program would not burden the public.
"We agree to the ideas that the fund-raising program shall run under a voluntary basis, apply transparent management, not encourage people to gamble, and not involve state-owned companies like PT PLN, PT Telkom, PT PAM and city revenues agencies," Tini said.
Involvement of the companies would inevitably lead to the compulsory schemes of the past, according to Tini.
"We demand the guarantee because fund-raising programs to finance certain sports events in the past have tainted the sports council's image."
Last month, the council introduced the lottery proposal, called Sports Awareness Campaign, with the aim to amass Rp 100 billion (US$7 million) a year from coupon sales.
The coupons, to be sold in 15,000 branches of state bank BRI for Rp 5,000 each, offer cash prizes ranging from Rp 5,000 to Rp 100 million. A buyer is entitled to a prize if a coupon contains three identical sports logos.
A coupon will also serve as a ticket to attend one sports game -- except for semifinals and finals -- sanctioned by the sports council. It is valid for one year.
According to the proposal, half of the funds collected will be disbursed for payment of prizes. Only 30 percent will be used for sports development.
"We must strictly select the management personnel to run the program, and decide fair distribution of the funds," Tini said, adding that sports development deserved most of the money raised.
Council chairman Wismoyo Arismunandar defended the huge amount of funds to be reserved for prizes, claiming it would attract people to buy coupons and pack stadiums and other sports venues.
"I think the scheme is the best answer to encourage people to watch contests here. Sometimes we have to offer prizes to make them watch and that's OK."
Prizes
The foundation's executive director, Zumrotin, disputed Wismoyo's argument. She said the prizes might not lure people to attend sports competitions but only to try to win prizes.
But promoter Dali Taher backed Wismoyo, saying the lottery would not encourage gambling because the coupons would not contain numbers.
"Instead, the lottery will eradicate gambling. It has become an open secret that there are lots of gambling dens in Kota (a commercial area of West Jakarta) and the government does not receive a cent from those places."
Last month, the Indonesian Ulemas Council announced it had turned down the sports council's request to issue an edict on gambling. The council said it feared the lottery would be a repeat of the controversial SDSB, banned in November 1993.
Dali said preliminary coupons would be printed in the United States before the organizers allocated the task to the state- owned money printing firm, PT Peruri, under the supervision of American consultant, Technology Promotions Inc.
He said the coupons would be sold soon after the Ministry of Social Services issues a decree approving the fund-raising program.
The sports council's consultant Hal Jensen, who has managed the same ticket sales in 70 countries and 23 states in the U.S., said selection of the winners would be by computers.
"I should tell you that ticket is printed on a machine that costs US$50 million," Jensen said. "The printing process is designed so you cannot cheat the ticket, you cannot change it.
"It's a very, very secured ticket. In the beginning we start small and gradually build the investment up as the program succeeds." (yan)