Hendro warns recalcitrant liquor producers and importers
Hendro warns recalcitrant liquor producers and importers
JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Gen.
Hendropriyono is threatening to prosecute producers and importers
of alcoholic drinks found violating governmental regulations on
production and sales.
"We will take them to court if they keep churning the stuff
out and flooding the city with illegal alcoholic drinks, because
this conflicts with the governmental ruling," Hendro, who is also
chief of Bakorstanasda Jaya (the city chapter of the Agency for
the Coordination of National Stability), said as quoted by the
Antara news agency on Saturday.
Hendro was speaking to journalists after opening the One-Day
Dialog program on the role of the press in the future, which was
organized by the Jakarta Branch of the Indonesian National Youth
Council (KNPI DKI).
Liquor producers and importers in the greater Jakarta area met
with officials of Bakorstanasda at the city police headquarters
on Thursday. The meeting was presided over by Maj. Gen. Mochammad
Hindarto, chief of the city police.
The meeting took place following the outcry of producers and
importers of alcoholic drinks about a sharp decline in their
business turnover due to the ongoing Operation Cleansing (Operasi
Bersih). The anti-crime drive focuses on cracking down on liquor
abuse.
Thus far, at least 600,000 bottles of spirits have been seized
and more than 400 drunkards captured during the anti-crime
operation since it was launched on April 11.
During the meeting, Hindarto accused the producers of
alcoholic drinks of breaking the regulations on permits,
distribution and production quotas.
Only six registered
Quoting data from the Bakorstanasda, Hindarto said that there
are only six registered liquor production plants in the city, but
there are a dozen others around the capital and 23 others in East
Java, which regularly market their products in the capital.
"Despite warnings from us, the producers keep churning out
their products in a manner conflicting with their permits. Above
all, their unlicensed suppliers have sold the drinks to children
aged under 14 years," Hindarto said.
Hindarto told the producers of alcoholic drinks to withdraw
all of their products, whose contents and production levels
exceed the permitted levels, from the markets and drink stands in
the city.
When asked why Bakorstanasda did not revoke the operating
licenses of the recalcitrant alcoholic drink producers, Hendro
said yesterday that was beyond the authority of his agency.
"Above all, if the plants are closed what will happen to their
workers? That's why we come up with solutions whereby the
interests of no parties are affected," Hendro said.
Aside from the liquor, Operation Cleansing teams have also
seized hundreds of sharp weapons, and dozens of firearms and four
million dangerous pills of various brands.
Commenting on drug abuse in Indonesia, Prof. Dr. Conny
Semiawan of the School of Psychology of the University Indonesia
said the alleged high rate of drug abuse here resulted from the
weak rulings on narcotics and dangerous drugs, and a lack of
political will on the part of the government to crack down on
producers, traffickers and users.
Conny, speaking at a symposium on narcotics in conjunction
with the National Awakening Day, was quoted by Antara as saying
Saturday that the weaknesses were justified by the meager amount
of budget allocated by the authorities to operations to combat
the crimes.
She said other countries were in the habit of setting aside a
lot of money for anti-crime operations.
Dr. Conny urged the government to promulgate strict laws on
drug abuse and to allocate adequate funds to enforce them. (jsk)