{"id":777026551,"date":"2025-05-16T09:00:32","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T12:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777026551"},"modified":"2026-04-21T22:55:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T01:55:30","slug":"indonesias-muslim-leaders-speak-out-against-casino-legalisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/indonesias-muslim-leaders-speak-out-against-casino-legalisation","title":{"rendered":"Muslim leaders blast proposal to legalise casinos in Indonesia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Abbas said legalising casinos would contradict religious values.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Indonesia.- The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI)<\/strong>, the country’s highest Islamic body, has strongly criticised a proposal to legalise casinos as a means to boost state revenue. Cholil Nafis, leader of the council’s Da’wah<\/strong> and Brotherhood division, said the proposal went again social norms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a post on X, Nafis said: “Don’t think of legalising [gambling] to increase state revenue. Let’s work on maximising natural resource exploration. Besides being against the law, gambling also goes against societal norms.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legalisation of casinos was proposed by Galih Kartasasmita<\/strong>, a Golkar Party<\/strong> member of the House of Representatives (DPR RI), during a meeting with the Ministry of Finance’s budget office on May 12<\/strong>. Kartasasmita suggested that Indonesia could follow the United Arab Emirates’ model and establish casinos to generate additional non-tax revenue. He compared the economies of the countries, noting that both depend on natural resources to finance government spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Nafis said that comparisons with foreign examples like the UAE to justify gambling in Indonesia was unwelcome. He called for alternative methods to increase state revenue “so that Indonesia may be full of blessings.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MUI deputy chairman Anwar Abbas<\/strong> added that legalising gambling in the predominantly Muslim country would contradict religious values and the principles of Indonesia’s state ideology, Pancasila. He said: “If the state allows gambling to flourish, it means the state is also contributing to the destruction of its people’s morals and identity.”<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Thailand and China discuss cooperation against online gambling<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abbas said legalising casinos would contradict religious values.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2395,"featured_media":26802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has strongly opposed a proposal by a Golkar Party member to legalise casinos in Indonesia to boost state revenue, citing contradictions with religious values and societal norms. The proposal referenced the United Arab Emirates' model for non-tax revenue generation, but the MUI emphasized alternative methods for economic growth.","focusai_entities":"Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), Cholil Nafis, Galih Kartasasmita, Golkar Party, House of Representatives (DPR RI), Ministry of Finance, Anwar Abbas","focusai_location":"Indonesia, United Arab Emirates","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (1.0), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Economic Impact Analysis","query":"What are the specific GGR projections and non-tax revenue contributions anticipated from the proposed integrated resort developments in Indonesia, and how do these compare to the UAE's established gaming verticals?"},{"label":"Regulatory Framework Challenges","query":"How would a potential B2C licensing and regulatory compliance framework in Indonesia reconcile the state's revenue objectives with the prevailing religious and social governance frameworks, particularly regarding responsible gambling and AML?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,16333],"tags":[29,1897,225],"class_list":["post-777026551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-casino","tag-igaming","tag-legislation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777026551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2395"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777026551"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777026551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777026563,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777026551\/revisions\/777026563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777026551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777026551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777026551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}