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)