June 24 - An SMS contest that was due to run through until September
has been temporarily halted by the Kuala-Lumpur based Celcom Mobile after a
government religious body stated its objections to the 'gambling' nature of the
competition.
The '100 Days, 100 Cars' SMS contest offered Celcom Mobile subscribers to win
a brand new Toyota every day until September 9 simply by answering quiz
questions. The subscriber who answered the most questions correctly - at a cost
of $1.50 per SMS - would win a car that day.
The average price of an SMS through cellular phone companies in Malaysia is
6c but Celcom Mobile defended the high price, saying that subscribers received
new products through the contest, such as ring tones and other perks.
However, the SMS contest soon caught the interest of the Malaysian Islamic
Development Department who advised Celcom Mobile to stop the competition. The
department, which deals with religious affairs in the country, said that it
would soon be consulting with an Islamic advisory panel (syariah) to determine
whether the campaign is allowed under religious law.
A religious leader who gave his opinion about the contest said: "In Islam, we
call this gambling. Such contests should be stopped because you pay but you buy
nothing." He also said that Celcom Mobile subscribers would find themselves with
steep phone bills because of the temptation to 'gamble'.
Celcom Mobile, in a brief statement this week, said that it would be halting
the '100 Days, 100 Cars' until a final decision had been reached by the
religious bodies.
| 
