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Alcohol: Why Indonesia Isn’t Producing Enough (And How to Fix That)
Dian Ariffahmi | July 07, 2009

Bottles of alcoholic beverages at the West Jakarta mayor’s office last month. Tens of thousands of the bottles were seized in raids between April and May this year, then destroyed. (Photo: Safir Makki, JG) Bottles of alcoholic beverages at the West Jakarta mayor’s office last month. Tens of thousands of the bottles were seized in raids between April and May this year, then destroyed. (Photo: Safir Makki, JG)
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Tanamur
11:39pm Jul 9, 2009

Yes Walkyrie, Bali is producing wine. It did start more than 10 years ago. It was alrady possible to drink so Hatten rosé there.

Since this time we can now find some red and white wine.

The rose wine is frankly good and can compare to most of the foreign rose wines which is sold in Jakarta more than 3 times its price.

Althought finding it in Jakarta is very complicated.


Tanamur
10:54pm Jul 9, 2009

Alcohol is toxic such as tabac and others. I cant say which one are the worst.

Lets start banning all toxic substance and probably start by banning metro mini from Jakarta.

Overall I heard that to bring alcohol in jakarta is not so complicated. Fees in airport is around 50 000 per bottle.

Now looking at some serious study, we can see that have a glass of wine everyday is good for the health.

So far I have not seen any study showing that tabacco was good for health.

I will not comment about metro mini ;)

M.M.A.
6:15pm Jul 9, 2009

Alcoholic beverages have toxic potentials. In my opinion, these products should be condemned in this country.

Valkyrie
4:45pm Jul 9, 2009

Guys! Try read the 8th June issue of Newsweek. In it there is an article about someone having a store selling liquor, in Iraq. The other day I way watching Al Jazeera showing how the Kurds are taking great risks in smuggling liquor into Iran.

As I have already commented. Alcohol is a commodity where the government can generate revenue from. Just look at the number of cigarette manufacturers in Indonesia.

Perhaps Bir Bintang likes to enjoy being the only producer? Isn't there a law against monopoly?

Bali is now producing Wine although not of international quality but it's a start.


Valkyrie
8:06am Jul 9, 2009

Alcohol is also a trade commodity like tobacco. Both are considered "Haram" and harmful to health. Why so much fuss over alcohol and not tobacco?

I agree with Tikno......Ban it totally or allow it freely.

LLast word........... one can find alcohol flowing quite ffreely in certain Middle East countries.

Indonesia tops a lot of global lists: It is the world’s largest archipelago; it has the world’s largest Muslim population; and, unknown to many, it is also one of the largest importers of alcoholic beverages.

That might explain why a senior member of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) urged the central government on Monday to allow foreign investment into the country’s alcohol production sector, saying that keeping it on the “negative investment” list only increased the country’s dependence on imported alcohol.

The government is currently preparing a presidential decree on a newly revised negative investment list, which it is expected to share with industry groups on Saturday for comment.

Maxi Gunawan, head of Kadin’s committee for Europe, said Indonesia was already the sixth largest importer of alcohol in the world by volume, just behind Thailand.

“Now we are importing 100 million bottles a year. It’s much more efficient if we can produce them here,” he said.

The inclusion of alcohol on the negative investment list is more political than economic, Maxi said, and opening up the industry will mean less import taxes to distributors and bring additional benefits, such as new jobs.

Beer manufacturers PT Multi Bintang Indonesia and PT Delta Djakarta, which produces Anker beer, are the sole alcohol producers on the stock exchange and cannot meet domestic demand.

But Muhammad Lutfi, chairman of the Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board, said it would be hard to open up the industry because it had been on a government “black list” of products and services deemed detrimental to society, such as gambling, since 1994. “It’s still closed [to investment], and there is no way that it will be opened,” Lutfi said, noting that it could spark protests from the country’s Muslims.

“Even if we exclude that industry from the list, I think alcoholic beverages would not grow as fast as other industries,” Lutfi said, adding that local producers were not even presently operating at maximum capacity.