Municipality told to submit liquor evaluation
JAKARTA (JP): The City Council has asked the municipality to hand over its final evaluation of the central government's regulations regarding the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages in the city.
With the results, the councilors would be able to determine whether or not the city required a new law on the matter, said Councilor Saud Rachman, the council's deputy leader yesterday.
"We urgently need a new law to control the distribution and sale of alcoholic beverages in the city," the United Development Party (PPP) representative said.
"By submitting the results soon, the council can discuss whether there's a need to change the city's current law on alcoholic beverages."
The evaluation conducted by the Jakarta administration was designed to assess how the city would comply with central government regulations on the supervision and control of alcoholic beverages.
These consist of a presidential decree and related ministerial instructions.
The government regulations were issued in February and March after the Jakarta City Council passed a bill permitting the city to tax alcohol distributors.
Moslem groups strongly opposed the bill, intended to replace a 1972 provincial decree which was considered weak. They said it was tantamount to legalizing alcohol, forbidden under Islamic teaching. Under pressure, the bill was delayed.
The ministerial instructions stated that provincial administrations are to issue decrees regulating prohibition, supervision and control of liquor distribution, and regency administrations or municipalities are to control places where alcohol can be sold.
Under the new regulations, liquor can only be sold in hotels, bars and other designated places. It will be banned from places close to centers of worship, schools and hospitals.
Administrations can even ban the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages if the majority of its people in an area are against it.
Bus terminals
Saud also praised yesterday the efforts of bus terminal operators to ban the sale of liquor in and around the city's terminals.
"The policy to ban liquor sales in and around bus terminals should be closely monitored all the time and the controls should not only be conducted after a big road crash," he said, referring to the recent accident on the Cakung-Cikunir toll road in East Jakarta in which 35 passengers were killed and dozens of others injured.
Doctors who examined the body of an inter-city bus driver, believed to be the main suspect in the crash, said the driver had been under the influence of alcohol.
Mun'im Idris, a forensic doctor, even said that the examination found 80 milligrams of alcohol in every cubic centimeter of the driver's blood, enough liquor to affect his concentration, judgment, self-control and driving skills.
On Thursday, the head of the Lebak Bulus bus terminal, Yusran Tandjung, and the head of Pulogadung bus terminal, Abdul Hakim, said that the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages in the area were prohibited.
"If we found liquor on a bus, the driver would not be allowed to operate the bus," Yusran was quoted by the Kompas daily as saying.
"Pulogadung officials will cooperate with the city's land transportation agency and police officers to prevent the sale of liquor and illegal drugs in the terminal area," Abdul Hakim said.
He added that he had ordered 146 bus companies in the terminal to register drivers' names before they left the terminal. "We sent circulars to bus companies on Sept. 17 explaining the policy," said Abdul. (ste)