Prohibition in Indonesia !

   Indonesia is a mainly Islamic nation and the Muslim religion forbids alcohol. As a world tourist hub Bali has ignored that sentiment and it is one of Australias favourite holiday destinations. Some religious leaders have been calling for prohibition to be imposed but this plea has fallen on deaf ears because of the importance of tourism to the Indonesian economy, but change is now in the wind.

Two Islamist political parties have joined with a nationalist party to revive a bill that has lain dormant since 2016 and which if enforced would make it a crime to produce or sell alcohol in any of its known forms.

Indonesian economists are aghast at the likely damage this would do to the important tourist industry  which is struggling to recover from the damages caused by the virus pandemic.  There is a distinct possibility the bill make get the numbers and prohibition become the law in our northern neighbour. 

A lot would depend on how the law is framed.  In some Islamic jurisdictions the ban only applies to local people of the Islamic faith and visitors from other  countries are exempt.   There are also other exemptions and these include its use in religious ceremonies and for pharmaceutical production.  Incoming tourists are issued with a permit which allows then to buy and consume alcohol during their stay in the country.  This is often applied to foreigners actually living in the country.

It is evident that prohibition would sharply curtail the Australian exodus to Bali. It is highly likely that when this bill reaches the discussion stage in the Indonesian parliament there will be representation from Bali to have that island excluded from the ban. Bali has a big Hindu population and the religious ban on alcohol only applies to Islam.

The entire Islamic world has a very mixed reaction to alcohol control.  In Saudi Arabia being found in possession of alcohol is a serious crime which requires severe punishment.  In other regimes, it is treated leniently for most of the year and only brought into force at the time of important religious festivals.

There is no doubt that here in Australia alcohol does a lot of damage.  It is responsible for some of the car crashes on Australian roads and a high degree of domestic violence is caused by over use of drink.  At one stage, parliament was considering putting as floor price on every alcoholic drink, but this has lost momentum.  Both of the big political parties know they will lost voter support if they increase the price of alcohol or make it difficult to obtain.

The pressure in Indonesia is coming from zealots.  It will be interesting  to see how the move is received in the remote islands where alcohol use is rare.  Tourists visit such locations as well as Bali and the loss of revenue on hard scrabble communities would probably bring a very harsh local reaction,

The Australian public will be watching the progress of this bill  in the Indonesian parliament with more than passing interest !