Mark
Nydave, there is certainly a problem in Indonesia with 'moonshine' and it is not unreasonable for the authorities to regulate this. The windup is that in connection with the efforts to ban this there are hardliners who wish to ban alcohol entirely, and apparently as part of the legislative process this has been discussed. Pretty normal. You might recall the previous windup where there was to be a new law that all expats employed in Indonesia had to pass a language exam. This too died for now. Given how much Indonesia relies on tourism, I wouldn't worry about an alcohol ban.
Nydave
There is already a thread on the forum about the Alcohol debate going thru government at the moment,but for some reason I just cant open it,i keep getting a message stating this page cant be displayed,,
So forgive me if I seem to be posting another thread on the same subject,
Couple of weeks ago I read an article where Bintang claim that in the first 3 months since the law was introduced of no beer allowed to be sold in the smaller stores that their sales had dropped by 42.7%,,and they said if this was to continue that they will have to lay off several hundred workers,
Earlier this week I read in either the Post or the Globe an article about this possible new law which is to be discussed real soon,in the article they interviewed some different politicians and asked for their opinions,one guy stated that its about a complete ban on all kinds of alcohol,another said it was about the banning of those moonshine type coctails that were being illegaly made and sold,others were of the opinion that it was a ban on certain types of drinks and would not include all of Indo,that there would be exceptions for certain areas,(in sure Bali would be one of the exceptions)
Then a little while ago I read about how they want to develop some islands aroung Jakarta into tourist attractions to attract more visitors to Indonesia,they also have the same ideas about some other Island in a completely different part of Indo,(cant remember the name of it) again to attract more foreign tourists,
So they will develop islands to attract more tourists and when they come ( and they will come)they will dictate to them what they cant do while here,
Something doesn`t seem right about all of this,this didn't work here in the Usa and I don't think it will work in Indo either,but that's just my personal opinion,to me having a holiday in any part of the world is about people being able to get away from the hussle and bussel of normal day life,having a couple of weeks of relaxation and being able to do the things they don't have time to do back home,one of which would be go out for dinner have a couple of beers or cocktails and have a good time,do the politicians really believe that banning alcohol is a way of attracting foreigners,or is it that they simply refuse to acknowledge that westerners like to enjoy themselves by having a couple of drinks,sure there have been bad situations in the past with drunken tourists but we get that all over the world,sure its not acceptable and for those of us who have ever experiences it its embarrassing to us,but all tourists cant be judges by the small percentage of those who do get out of hand,
What are your opinions on this new regulation/law or whatever we want to call it,,
Will it pass in government
If it does pass will it work
Will tourists still keep coming
Or will tourists find other similar countries to go to,
Nydave
Yeah good point,my wife also told me that some years ago they were going to maeit illegal for women to wear short skirts ,they said it was ****ographic,and I believe hundreds of women demonstrated in Jakarta so that too never happened,I agree that banning it would kill the majority of tourism,not that im advocation alcoholism,I also agree about those concoctions they make and die from them,they have to be eradicated
Markit
"Run it up the flagpole and see who salutes it!" seems to be the proffered method of governance with the present shower of idiots.
Most that live here take a fairly relaxed view of the stated intentions as opposed to the actual effects caused - sort of "wait and see".
For instance - you mentioned the recent alch ban - Bali then won an immediate dispensation which was extended to 16 Banjar or villages dotted across the island. It basically exempted all those with the brown tourist area signs.
Effect was that people on the ground (and running the warungs) heard about the ban but not about the dispensation so Bintang disappeared from the coolers in front of most of the shop. Now if you want to buy a beer from my local warung you sit down and say "Bintang please" and they bring it out of the back room cooler.
Big change!
IMHO all the laws are like that here.
