Smoking Ban Fatwa The Jakarta Post, Saturday, February 14, 2009
I refer to an article titled "How MUI's latest fatwa would make this world a better place," (The Jakarta Post, Feb. 7, p. 7) I am not a Moslem and do not speak Indonesian. I am a health journalist who has been visiting relatives in Indonesia for the past 40 years. Let's not be overly critical of the Indonesian smoker's culture because it isn't much different from China today or the USA 60 years ago. However I think it is very interesting that any mainstream religion should take any kind of stand against smoking, regardless of how effective this might or might not be. This is especially interesting when it happens in a country where everyone smokes. My only concern is how this will affect the Indonesian economy. Well, I am only half joking. I am not an economist, but from all the billboards and television commercials, not to mention all of the addicted becak drivers who seem to spend more money on cigarettes than on fruit. It has long been my suspicion that cigarette sales are a bulwark of the Indonesian economy. Whoever controls the television stations certainly does not seem to care how many naive people die horribly from lung cancer, making sure that the least educated people will have cigarettes in their mouths without even being able to afford standard medical attention. The clear message from television is that cigarettes are clean and healthy. They help you to fly like a bird or climb high mountains, and even help you to eat more celery or something. "Pria punya seleria" Alright, I am joking again. I know what it means, these fags are for real men, men with discrimination. But I ask you, does this real meaning make any more sense than to say that these fags are for men who have celery? Yes, this is hilarious. That is, until I visit a hospital or have people coming to ask me (a health journalist) if there is a herbal remedy for cancer because they can't afford anything else. Is someone going to tell me all that advertising doesn't work? That nobody pays any attention? The reason why the cigarette companies pay so much money, they just like wasting money? Sorry, I don't think so. My respect goes to any religious leader who sees through this outrageous greed, this abusing of innocent and naive people, and tries to "make a start" to do something about it. Christopher Pekalongan, Central Java Source: THE JAKARTA POST URL: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/02/14/letter-does-ri-need-a-fuel-subsidy.html Mencari semua teman di Yahoo! Messenger? Undang teman dari Hotmail, Gmail ke Yahoo! Messenger dengan mudah sekarang! http://id.messenger.yahoo.com/invite/
