Doubt about ruling on strong drinks

From Jayakarta

The government decree of June 27, 1994, which raises the import duty on alcoholic beverages has been hailed by the public and the law-and-order authorities who have been on the move against alcohol abuse. The reasoning goes that with the higher import duty on the alcoholic beverages, the prices will rise and this in turn will lead to fewer alcohol-related crimes.

I realize that many people actually do believe that if drinks become more expensive, fewer people will get into drinking. However, I doubt it. I think the reasoning is simplistic.

Granted that the price hike would, indeed, weaken demand and hence slacken imports of strong drinks, what about domestically produced alcoholic beverages? I doubt the feasibility of checking the production of domestically made alcoholic drinks.

The question also remains: Have we considered the needs of the tourist industry? For, all this time, due to the high prices, the imported alcoholic drinks with patented brands have been mostly consumed by rich people and foreign tourists.

Such being the case, will the increase of the import duty really lower interest in the drinks among the public? Or, perhaps, this will merely constitute a blow to the tourist industry, which has always served brand-name hard liquor?

WIRAWAN

Bogor, West Java