An Eternal Dry Season…Indonesia Mulls Prohibition!
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I detest this rainy season, traffic chaos, constant hassle to keep appointments – I regard lateness as the rudest form of incivility, and do all I can to be on time – but now the prospect of an eternal dry season fills me with dread.,
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Winston Churchill once famously lost his parliamentary seat to a Prohibitionist candidate – Dundee, 1922, I think – so bizarre ideas can surge up unexpectedly anywhere, anytime.
Unfortunately, here in Indonesia, the latest news is far from unexpected, a bill to ban booze now on the legislative agenda, the work of the party whose leader is none other than Suryadharma Ali, a man who may not be the most intolerant politician in town, but to be fair, he’s intolerant enough to be going on with.
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Ali(ot Ness?)
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Iindonesia would introduce stiff penalties for the consumption of all alcoholic beverages under a controversial bill drafted by the Islamic United Development Party (PPP) that would effectively ban the sale, production and consumption of alcohol in this Muslim-majority nation.
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Those caught consuming alcohol could face up to two years in prison. Distributors would face up to five years while producers could face a maximum of 10 years in jail.
That’ll boost tourism, for sure!
“This will be a ban on producing, distributing and consuming alcohol,” Arwani Thomafi, secretary of the PPP faction at the House of Representatives, said.
I suppose I should declare an interest in this – it is not unknown for me to support the local economy by consuming a quantity of Bintang beer, a local product agreeable to the palate.
Bali Hai beer is another Indonesian beer. And Anker.
The industry must provide jobs for thousands, and fun for thousands more. But such shameful materialist considerations weigh little with the ‘high priority’ bill’s supporters.
Arwani
- The Islamic party introduced the bill to bring the nation in line with “religious guidelines” as well as address the negative impact of excessive alcohol consumption on people’s health, Arwani said.
People’s health? Maybe he saw me coming home in the wee hours today! But this next part is curious.
Tourist areas and “certain ethnicities” might be spared the ban, Arwani said. He did not explain which tourist areas or ethnic groups would be allowed to drink alcohol under the ban.
Does he mean areas of Jakarta where foreigners like to hang out” Jalan Jaksa, Blok M, posh Kuningan? I doubt it.
And since when is ‘ethnicity’ a part of the alcohol debate? Religion, yes, but race? Fire-water no good for redskins? A tad out-of-date.
Religious guidlines….I know Hindus who like a drink. Do Buddhists not enjoy rice wine? Did Jesus turn water into iced lemon tea?
Looks like pure shariah intolerance, once more.
Nobody forces Arwani to consume booze. Why should he want to stop others doing so?
Maybe he doesn’t think his co-religionists can watch their countrymen or overseas visitors slaking thirsts with a glass of beer without casting Islamist strictures to the four winds and leaping into a binge.
Nuts to that!
Yonks are discussing. 
Yonks 3:50 pm on December 22, 2012 Permalink |
A few things in your favour here Ross. Nationally the PPP are a marginal party (around 10% from memory), enough to score a few seats and be annoying with radical but rarely implemented policies. A Islamic version of the Hanson party if you wish pandering to those who feel marginalized. Secondly, the sheer inept performance of parliament here means less than 20% of proposed laws ever get debated. Lastly, the grog trade here is deeply rooted into a few powerful dank hands who are not about to let a few religious nutters turn off the tap to their or you can be sure they will be putting the screws on the Islamist parties and their shady but lucrative control of the meat industry. Ever wondered why your favourite haunt and the other traditional “M” eeting place never get bothered by the Religious thugs?? It’s not by chance.
I wouldn’t bother stocking up just yet.
ross1948 4:00 pm on December 22, 2012 Permalink |
Much of what you say is true, Yonks, and well-known, re the protection rackets, but PPP is not the only party which will favour this scheme. PKS and others grubbing about for the shariah-freak vote will join in.
And who’d have thought the Blasphemy Law or the Tri-Ministerial Decree would be put into effect when the specifically Islamist partiesc hold so few seats in Parliament.
Trouble is, even if no law gets passed, the climate of oppression spreads apace, with lots of little shops scared openly to sell beer etc.
PS Hanson party = PPP – hardly the same, or even similar.(cue for another of your tangential arias!)
Yonks 7:14 pm on December 22, 2012 Permalink
Actually very simliar. A minor party proposing populist if poorly thought though ideas designed to appeal to those who feel marginalized. Invariably it was sound bites and half truths that didn’t stand up to rational economic facts and social realities. Hanson herself vocalized what some people did honestly feel concerned about however her party was quickly overrun with the bigots, the ignorant and the plain nasty and they were quickly consigned to the dustbin of history.
ross1948 7:29 pm on December 22, 2012 Permalink
I thought they appealed to common sense, opposing silly soft immigration policies etc.
‘Populist’ just means they preferred to represent how ordinary people felt on issues, instead of pursuing the establishment agenda, which holds the aspirations of common folk in contempt.
That’s why the in-crowd are so selective on referenda, eg okay for the national anthem, but not for a ban on ‘asylum-seekers.’
I thought One Nation got massive first preference support then missed out through vagaries of the Aussie electoral system. Also they were subjected to press bias and leftist mob intimidation.
PPP here were surely, in fact, the creation of the New Order regime, Suharto having told various Muslim parties to merge. Under their current leadership, they are obsessed with picking on Ahmadiyah, who, unlike ‘asylum-seekers’ in Oz, are good, honest citizens, with every right to be here, and who pose no threat to the country.
Yonks 11:06 pm on December 22, 2012 Permalink
2012 Queensland State Election One Nation (Hanson long since failed to win a seat) secured 2500 votes or 0.1% of the vote and (obviously) failed to win any seats. I think it’s safe to say the people have spoken loudly enough.
ross1948 12:02 am on December 23, 2012 Permalink
As you must have known, I was discussing their hey-day, late 90s, I think, with Pauline at the helm.
Currently, it seems as if the big parties are waking up, or at least listening to the people, but time will tell.