City told to curb moonshine, not liquor

Tantri Yuliandini and Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta administration would do better to ban the production and sale of illegally mixed alcoholic drinks, common among the lower classes, rather than prohibiting supermarkets and hypermarkets from selling licensed alcohol, an expert says.

"We often hear of people being poisoned, going blind or even dying from drinking these kinds of mixtures of industrial alcohol .... Why doesn't the administration ban these mixtures, instead of banning licensed alcohol that few people have access to in the first place," wine writer and connoisseur Yohan Handoyo told The Jakarta Post last week.

He said the higher prices of alcohol sold in supermarkets and hypermarkets, together with age restrictions for the purchase of these beverages, was enough to deter irresponsible consumption.

Young people in Jakarta have long been familiar with homemade alcoholic drinks such as mensen and anggur orang tua.

Observers have often warned this unlicensed alcohol poses a danger because of the high percentage of alcohol and the often dangerous chemicals included in the mixtures.

None of these unlicensed mixtures carry labels specifying the contents.

"I can get mensen in several stores in my area. I don't really care what's in it as long as I can get drunk. It is also very cheap compared to licensed drinks," Udin, 18, a high school student in Pasar Minggu, told the Post recently.

The Jakarta Industry and Trade Agency recently banned the sale of beverages containing more than 5 percent alcohol, which includes most wines and distilled spirits, at supermarkets and hypermarkets.

In issuing the ban, the agency invoked a 1997 presidential decree on the monitoring and control of alcoholic drinks, as well as Decree No. 359/MPP/Kep/10/1997 from the now defunct industry and trade ministry, on the monitoring and control of the production, importation, distribution and sale of alcoholic drinks.

Several supermarkets and hypermarkets, including Ranch Market in Pondok Indah, Carrefour in Lebak Bulus and Sogo supermarket in Plaza Senayan, all in South Jakarta, have removed all wine and spirits from their shelves.

Some branches of Hero supermarket, however, such as the Kemang branch in South Jakarta, as well as Kem Chicks supermarket, also in Kemang, are still selling wines and spirits.

According to the ministerial decree, only duty free shops are allowed to sell beverages containing more than 5 percent alcohol, and only to members of the diplomatic corps, foreign experts working at international institutions, those traveling abroad and those who have just returned from abroad.

Kemang Duty Free will only sell to foreigners who can produce a passport or limited stay permit (KITAS).

"We don't serve local residents at all, not even those holding diplomatic passports, only those with foreign passports or a KITAS," an employee at Kemang Duty Free said.

Though it has the largest Muslim population in the world, Indonesia's alcohol tradition is quite sophisticated and goes back thousands of years.

"It's not true that Indonesia's culture does not recognize alcoholic drinks. We know of tuak, brem, arak and saguer, all of which come from Indonesia's own culture," Yohan said, pointing out that other countries with Islamic traditions such as Turkey and Algeria also produce their own wines.

Tuak is a type of wine fermented mainly from rice, but also from sugarcane, mangosteen, palm tree sap and apples, and can be found all over Indonesia. Brem, popular in Bali, is made from black glutinous rice, yeast and water, and has an alcohol content of between 7 percent and 9 percent, depending on its age.

Arak is distilled tuak or brem with an alcohol content of between 20 percent and 50 percent, depending on the quality, and is an important ingredient in temple offerings in Bali. Saguer, popular in North Sulawesi, is fermented from palm tree sap.

According to Yohan, the government should also take note of the different types of consumers of alcoholic beverages, and not treat all alcohol the same.

"Wine, for example, is mostly drunk by expatriates, and only in the last two or three years have Indonesians begun to acquire a taste for it," he said.

The growing popularity of wine in the country is evident from the number of restaurants and lounges now dedicated to serving the beverage. These include wine shops such as Vin+ in Kemang and Indovino in South Jakarta, and clubs such as the Wines and Spirits Circle and the newly established Klub Wine.

Wine enthusiasts, Yohan said, are not only interested in the taste of the wine itself, but also in the process of making wine, its culture and history.

"When you participate in a wine tasting, you will find that people there talk not just about the wine, but also the culinary culture linked to the wine," he said, adding that serious enthusiasts rarely purchased wine off the shelf.