Producers of

Producers of

liquor ignore

regulations

JAKARTA (JP): Police said yesterday the decline in sales of alcoholic drinks faced by producers opposing their crackdown on alcoholic beverages was due to the businessmen's violation of regulations on permits, distribution and production quotas.

"We have asked them to meet together with us immediately to discuss legal ways to counter the current sharp decline in their sales due to the ongoing military and police crackdown on illegal liquor," City Police chief Maj. Gen. Mochammad Hindarto told reporters.

He was speaking after a discussion with 40 of the producers of alcoholic drinks at his office here yesterday.

During the meeting, Hindarto was speaking on behalf of the chief of the City Agency for the Coordination of Support for National Stability (Bakorstanasda), Maj. Gen. Hendropriyono, who is also the city military commander. The commander failed to attend the meeting for undisclosed reasons.

"Please meet together and find out the best solution to your problem. But keep in mind that many of the violent crimes taking place in the city and its surrounding areas are mainly caused by your drinks," he told the producers, whose factories are located in Greater Jakarta and in several cities in West, East and Central Java.

Quoting data from the Bakorstanasda, Hindarto said that there are only six legally registered liquor production plants operating in the city.

But there are a dozen more around the capital and some others, such as the 23 factories in East Java, which have been regularly distributing their products here, he said.

"The local markets here are flooded with thousands of alcoholic drinks of various brands," he said. "The producers do not have the permits they should have for operating their businesses. In fact they have blatantly ignored the regulations despite repeated warnings from us."

"Their illegal local suppliers here have sold alcoholic drinks to children aged under 14 years," he said.

Hindarto said the integrated crackdown on the illegal sales of alcoholic drinks will continue in the greater Jakarta area unless the producers can immediately find a solution that will favor both the public interests and themselves, Hindarto said.

He said he has also asked them to seek ways to sell their products which will not cause their customers to get drunk.

"A single glass of liquor may provide additional energy, but three and more glasses may lead to a bloody fight," he said.

Since the operation started last month, the police have seized over 600,000 bottles of alcoholic drinks, along with 14 guns, 440 sharp weapons, over three million pills of banned drugs and a large quantity of heroin.

"We'll continue the operation until the producers become fed up with producing the illegal stuff," Hindarto vowed. (bsr)