A sober decision

The government's promise to review its decree on the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages should calm the tension among Moslem organizations. At least temporarily.

These past few weeks have seen various protests in Jakarta and other cities against the policy. The protests continued, in spite of official assurances that the ruling was issued to control the sale of alcohol, and should not be seen as condoning alcohol consumption. The government has acted wisely by announcing its promise to review the decree. This was what came out of the extraordinary meeting convened Wednesday by Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman.

Ignoring the protests would only have aggravated the situation, as the government learned a few years ago when it handled the controversial ruling on the state-sponsored lottery, SDSB. The lottery, considered a form of gambling, was eventually scrapped after a long tug-of-war with Moslem organizations.

There are similarities between the lottery and alcoholic beverages. While both have alluring potentials to boost state coffers, Islam considers them haram (forbidden), and therefore, any revenue that comes from them is considered sin money. Both also have potential negative impacts on society, particularly in the form of addiction.

It would be unwise, however, for Indonesia to impose a sweeping ban on alcoholic beverages in the manner it did away with the lottery, and this is probably where similarities between the two end.

The government should take into consideration the fact that there is a sizable number of non-Moslem people in this country, as well as a growing presence of expatriates, for whom drinking is not only permitted. For some, it is also a social custom. An outright ban could also dent Indonesia's tourism at a time when the country is building more and more hotels and other facilities to cash in on the tourism boom.

Any review of the policy must take these factors into consideration. It is encouraging to note the statement by Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. that in reviewing the decree, the government will approach the issue differently. If presently, the government tries to regulate the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages, the new approach will be to restrict the sale of otherwise banned products. This may sound like semantics, but it could go a long way towards appeasing Moslems, without depriving non-Moslems of their pastime.

Indonesia could also learn a thing or two from neighboring Malaysia, where the sale of alcoholic beverages to Malaysian Moslems is forbidden, and any shop or restaurant caught selling or serving them is liable to criminal prosecution. The onus is as much, if not more, on those who sell as well as on those who buy. This should not be difficult to implement in Indonesia, where people are required to carry ID cards, which also state their religion, at all times.

But whatever policy comes out of this review, there is the question of enforcement. Unfortunately, this country is notoriously lacking or weak in law enforcement. A new policy on the sale of alcoholic beverages may be convincingly and even impossibly strict, but it doesn't mean a thing as long as enforcement is feeble or even nonexistent.

This, in fact, has been the chief concern among Moslem leaders about the present regulation: the lack or absence of enforcement, although the existing rules already stipulate an age limit and restrict sales. The increasing incidence of drunkenness, particularly among young people, is very much behind the recent protests.

Therefore, in the final analysis, it is not the policy that counts most, but its enforcement. On this score, the government will have to be more convincing than it has been in the past.