Vice President Jusuf Kalla is doing his bit for Indonesia's 2008 tourism initiative. Yesterday he announced "Make Lombok an Islamic tourist zone without beer or alcohol". Anyone who has ever been to Lombok, the island adjacent to Bali, knows that very few tourists ever visit and turning it into an alcohol-free zone will ensure that almost nobody goes there. It probably won't happen in the short-term. Kalla has been helping the local Golkar candidates in forthcoming gubernatorial elections and his comments were probably intended for voters in West Nusa Tenggara (of which Lombok forms a part).
What's funny about this announcement is that there is strong support to turn another of Indonesia's islands (Bintan, near Singapore) into a legalized gambling area and gambling of course is quite un-Islamic. The Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming reports that "Malaysia's Landmarks Bhd., backed by Asia's largest gambling company, hopes to build Indonesia's first legalized casinos in a $3.1 billion resort project to compete with Las Vegas Sands Corp. in Singapore". It is just waiting for the "green light" from the Government. Of course local Muslims on the island will not be allowed to gamble.
These initiatives are illustrative of a growing fragmentation within the country caused by indecisive leadership that wants to appease Muslim fundamentalists but still attract foreign investment. The fundamentalists can't be appeased without completely capitulating to their demands for an Islamic State. The police meanwhile continue their crackdown on terrorist cells by raiding a house in Palembang, arresting nine terror suspects and finding an assortment of assembled bombs. The fact that this raid occurred on the same day that the police were celebrating their 62nd anniversary raised a few eyebrows and only added to the widespread cynicism that the public feel toward the protectors of law and order within the country.
What's funny about this announcement is that there is strong support to turn another of Indonesia's islands (Bintan, near Singapore) into a legalized gambling area and gambling of course is quite un-Islamic. The Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming reports that "Malaysia's Landmarks Bhd., backed by Asia's largest gambling company, hopes to build Indonesia's first legalized casinos in a $3.1 billion resort project to compete with Las Vegas Sands Corp. in Singapore". It is just waiting for the "green light" from the Government. Of course local Muslims on the island will not be allowed to gamble.
These initiatives are illustrative of a growing fragmentation within the country caused by indecisive leadership that wants to appease Muslim fundamentalists but still attract foreign investment. The fundamentalists can't be appeased without completely capitulating to their demands for an Islamic State. The police meanwhile continue their crackdown on terrorist cells by raiding a house in Palembang, arresting nine terror suspects and finding an assortment of assembled bombs. The fact that this raid occurred on the same day that the police were celebrating their 62nd anniversary raised a few eyebrows and only added to the widespread cynicism that the public feel toward the protectors of law and order within the country.
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