Convenience stores go dry as Indonesia imposes partial alcohol ban
Tables, chairs and free Wi-Fi have made 7-Eleven stores in Jakarta favourite places among young people to hang out at night and have a beer or two. The shops might not be as exciting for beer-drinking groups after a ban on the sale of alcohol at about 10,
“So now we can only have Slurpees, coffee and tea?” said 21-year-old Jakarta resident Alam Satriyo, referring to a frozen flavoured drink sold at 7-Eleven outlets. “That is not cool.”
Convenience store attendants said alcoholic drinks were no longer available even before the ban took effect. “We’ve pulled alcoholic drinks off the shelves since early April,” said Budi Wardhana, a manager at a 7-Eleven store in central Jakarta.
Trade Minister Rachmat Gobel said the ban, which covers drinks with an alcohol content of less than 5 per cent, was intended to prevent underage drinking. “We have to protect the younger generation,” he told reporters on Thursday. “I have received a lot of input from residents who are concerned about alcoholic drinks being sold in mini-markets in residential areas, near schools and places of worship.”
He said shop attendants often flouted government regulations banning the sale of alcohol to minors and displayed beers prominently instead of keeping them in a locked compartment. Beers and other light alcoholic drinks can still be purchased at supermarkets, restaurants, bars and hotels in the Muslim-majority country.
Stronger drinks were already prohibited from sale by this category of retailer under an earlier regulation. Following protests from retailers on the resort island of Bali, Gobel said there would be separate regulation by local authorities allowing corner stores and street vendors to continue selling liquor in heavily-touristed areas.
A Balinese resident said alcoholic beverages were still available in minimarts there and vendors in the popular Kuta Beach were still offering beers.
“I just bought a beer from a local minimart,” said Zu Farahiya Sabrina, a Denpasar resident. “The regulation won’t work here.”
About 2,500 alcohol beverage sellers in Bali have signed a petition against the ban, Bisnis.com reported. They said small retailers were responsible for most of the 5 million bottles of beer sold monthly on the resort island, the report said.
Indonesia has among the world’s lowest alcohol consumption. An average Indonesian drank the equivalent of about 0.6 litres of pure alcohol in 2010, according to the World Health Organisation. A 2010 Health Ministry report said only 2.6 per cent of 250 million Indonesians consumed alcohol.
Beer consumption in Indonesia, however, has been growing in recent years, at rate of about 4 per cent per annum, according to industry data. The production, sale and consumption of alcohol could be banned entirely if conservative Muslim politicians have their way.
A draft bill put forward by two major Muslim parties proposes that producing alcoholic beverages be punishable by up to 10 years in jail, while drinkers could face up to two years in prison. The bill would allow for exceptions such as tourism and religious rituals in a separate regulation.
“The proliferation of minimarts has made it easy for young people to get alcoholic drinks,” said Fahira Idris, a legislator and founder of the National Movement against Alcoholic Drinks. “About 18,000 lives are lost every year as a direct or indirect consequence of alcohol consumption,” she said.
