Buya Hamka's House Becomes A Complaint For Gambling Victims

Buya Hamka while serving as General Chair of the Indonesian Ulema Council for the period 1975-1981. (muhammadiyah.or.id)

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta Government's strategy is to legalize gambling to make a profit. The power of attorney can build many things from gambling taxes in the 1970s. From building schools to hospitals. However, on the other hand, gambling actually has a lot of harm.

Gambling victims appear everywhere. Instead of just making people fall poor, gambling can in fact damage family relations. Buya famous cleric Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah (Hamka) agrees. In fact, his house is transformed into a complaint post for gambling victims.

The idea of taxing the gambling business is not a new item in Jakarta. The live act was present when Jakarta was still named Batavia. Dutch colonizers consider gambling activities to bring profits to the stock. Whoever wants to run the gambling business will be taxed.

The occupier's cash was fat because of gambling. The same narrative is trying to be perpetuated by the Governor of DKI Jakarta in the era of 1966-1977, Ali Sadikin. Ali is attracted to legalizing gambling to beautify Jakarta. The man who is familiarly called Bang Ali thinks that building Jakarta with a gambling tax makes more sense than using central government funds. It's also small.

Like it or not, gambling is legalized. The results are brilliant. All kinds of gambling are the mainstay of fatting DKI Jakarta cash. The gambling tax made Jakarta build a lot. The village is repaired, the roads are starting to be paved, schools are increasing, and health facilities are improved.

Gamblers are also trying to be limited to the Chinese population. However, in fact, gambling is crazy, it infects all elements of society, not only the Chinese. From commoners to rich people. The rich dream of a shortcut is the main trigger.

Problems also arise. Most Jakartans are addicted to gambling. They continue to have high hopes to be one of the lucky ones. Because, if they lose they will try it again tomorrow. Moreover, they are willing to risk anything on the gambling table.

This condition makes gamblers fall poor and crazy. The social symptoms are proof that there is an expensive price that must be paid by Ali Sadikin's government in the midst of legal gambling.

Lotere Hwa Hwee is also very popular in my playing relationships and many of my friends are involved in guessing this Hwa Hwee lottery. As for what is quite sad, many of the lower classes have become very gossiped about playing this Hwa Hwee gambling attack. So that many fall into poverty or their families fall apart. Some even get excited.

"Well, our level of education in our society is still low, easy to defend and fooled into gambling so that we can quickly get rich without rational calculations. Because there is a lot of pressure from the community, especially religious circles, on the negative impact of the Hwa Hwee lottery," said Firman Lubis in the book Jakarta 1950-1970 (2018).

The legality of gambling made the ulama condemn the actions of the DKI Jakarta government. Buya Hamka, one of them. He has repeatedly written his criticism via newspapers regarding the legalization of gambling. Even Buya Hamka has also repeatedly conveyed criticism directly to Ali Sadikin.

The criticism thrown by Buya Hamka is not without reason. Buya Hamka understands that gambling is clearly prohibited by religion. However, the most vital urgency for him is that he is unable to see many families destroyed because of gambling. It may be that his father is the one who gambles, but his wife and children are often victims.

Buya Hamka's view was strengthened by the number of gambling victims who came to his residence. At that time, the house of the General Chairperson of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) for the period 1975-1981 was like a complaint house. Many of the gambling victims told directly how bad gambling was in Jakarta.

Families destroyed and the morale of Jakarta residents damaged is a serious consequence of gambling. Every day they came to Buya Hamka's house more and more. The topic is not far from consulting on the dangers of gambling.

Buya Hamka listens to the stories of everyone who comes. After that, he gave them advice. The rest, the stories will be conveyed directly to the owner of the policy. Buya Hamka did this so that the DKI Jakarta government realized that gambling had many disadvantages.

The old father thought about what he had just seen and in several times his sermon at the Al-Azhar Mosque, he always warned of the dangers that threaten the morale of the people in this advanced era. The arrival of guests with such cases is increasingly common every day. The existence of legalized clubs, methamphetamine, gambling, and so on in the early 1970s, made my father's house even more visited and complained places.

A magnification wife complained about her husband's personality who likes to gamble and play women at the nite club. The woman said: I was given shopping every month for millions of rupiah, but my father no longer came home. And the children went wild. How is this? Hamka replied: the first, you have to be patient and get closer to God. If there he commits immorality, at home he grows a religious atmosphere together. Convey my greetings to your husband. When I go home, I want to meet you, that's how my father ordered to deal with such cases, "explained Buya Hamka's son, Rusydi Hamka in the book Pribadi and Dignity Buya Hamka (2017).