Indonesian ulema mull smoking ban

INDONESIAN clerics debated yesterday whether Muslims an overwhelming majority in the country should be banned from smoking.

If the Ulema Council, Indonesia's top Islamic body, issues a ruling on the issue, it could shape government policy in one of the world's largest tobacco markets.

The country of 235 million is secular but 90 per cent of the population is Muslim.

Gusrizal Gazahar, an Ulema Council member, said more than 700 Islamic experts gathered for the weekend talks in Padang Panjang, a village in West Sumatra province. They will make a decision on the issue today.

The smoking debate was triggered by concerns over health, Gazahar said, but some clerics on the main island of Java, where the tobacco industry plays a key role in the economy, do not want a fatwa to be passed. Both sides of the issue would be carefully weighed, he added.

Even the poorest of the poor can scrape up enough money to smoke in Indonesia. Two-thirds of the country's young adult males light up, the Indonesian cigarette producers' association says.AP