Alcohol consumption
Alcohol consumption
Following Mrs. Hetty M. Frederik's remarks on the consumption
of alcohol (The Jakarta Post, Nov. 16, 1996 Indonesians and
drinks), I would like to add the following on the subject.
There are about 26 million people living below the poverty
line in Indonesia. Also, many young people leaving school cannot
find jobs. On the other hand, there are a large number of people
employed by the government. This last category, although employed
and enjoying a salary -- with the exception of a number that are
"clean" -- manage to extort additional sums of money using their
bureaucratic power, also from the poor and unemployed.
As a Dutch bishop recently remarked, a poor man in need should
be allowed to steal bread if he is hungry. My assumption is the
dark force that drives youngsters to drink is in fact their good
conscience in the case where they drink in order to get enough
courage to steal or commit other crimes. They do not want to do
so, but what other way is there to get food?
My race has been consuming alcohol for at least 2000 years.
Citizens of countries such as France and Germany regularly
consume wine and beer and have at the same time managed to
achieve a productive economy and a reasonably democratic
government. In the Bible, Jesus turned water into (good) wine at
a gathering. As a consumer of wine myself, I have still managed
to become a foreign investment specialist in Indonesia and I am
getting a Ph.D. for it.
At the time of my research into the problems of foreign
investment in Indonesia, I was searching for the reason why
production costs in Indonesia were higher than in developed
countries. One of the reasons was customs. When the Indonesian
government decided to dismiss customs officials and hire SGS to
do the inspection job, production costs in Indonesia decreased
substantially, and sectors such as textiles and shoe
manufacturing could really take off. By my estimate, dismissing
8,000 customs officials has created jobs for two million people,
or 250 jobs for each corrupt official dismissed. If the
government would continue to do this, less people would feel the
need to resort to drinking in order to feel courageous enough to
steal.
My last remark is that, in a democracy, an individual's rights
are limited by the freedom of others to exercise their rights.
BOUDEWIJN BRANDS
Jogyakarta