TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Enough is enough and we hope there will be no more victims of adulterated liquor. In the last two years, 155 lives have lost after drinking adulterated liquor.
The biggest case happened in Mojokerto, East Java in January this year. At least 17 people died after drinking cukrik, a Javanese type of wine mixed with gasoline, soft drinks, ant0mosquito lotion, and methanol.
In the latest case, 10 people died in Garut, West Java.
Liquor is a kind of beverage with high level of alcohol.
Thus, there are rules regarding permissible levels of alcohol. Even bartenders do not mix those liquids at will. In fact, they are trained make liquor to remain deliciously to be consumed without causing risk of death.
This is different from bootleg liquor. Those who mix them, mix the liquids at will.
Level of alcoholic beverages such cukrik or arak is made higher. Cukrik, for example, contains about 65 percent level of alcohol.
Nevertheless, the problem is not about high levels of alcohol because several well-known brands of liquor contain 70 percent of alcohol. The problem is that in order to make it cheap, those bootleg alcoholic drinks are mixed with other hazardous materials, such as insect repellent and gasoline.
The consequences are fatal.
The government cannot let the victims of those bootleg alcoholic drinks continued to increase. Firm actions must be taken from the upstream part to the downstream part.
In the upstream part, the government should investigate where those deadly drinks come from. It is very likely that some are smuggled. This beverage is circulated and then purchased by customers, who mix them to get a high alcohol effect at low prices.
Investigators at Directorate General of Customs and Excise estimate that those alcoholic beverages illegally entered Indonesia helped by officers at Customs and Excise Office.
These are players from the old network that are spread from Riau to Jakarta.
One of the indications is the the arrest of 24 trucks carrying 163 thousand bottles of liquor in South Sumatra to Merak on October 31 this year.
As for the downstream, the government should tighten the circulation of this dangerous drink.
Previously, the highest regulation was only the Presidential Decree No. 3 of 1997 on the Supervision and Control of Alcoholic Beverages. However, this decree was then revoked by the Supreme Court in June 2013. Since then, each province regulates the circulation of liquor in their respective region.
The problem is that not all regional governments passed a law on the circulation of liquor.
The government must immediately provide a solid legal framework to regulate the circulation of liquor, for example by issuing a law on it. The rules must take a stern action against dealers and those illegally mixing the liquors.
Today, the dealers are only brought to court for minor crimes and are given light sentences.
It must be born in mind that liquor is not just merchandise excise that is subject to excise but it is also under the category of food and other beverages. The implication is that from starting from the manufacturers to the dealers must ensure that the products are safe for humans, in accordance with Article 71 of Law No. 18 of 2012 on Food.
Unfortunately, the law does not regulate circulation. In this case, the government shall issue a new law that fills these gaps, so that shop or supermarkets can sell it as they want.
(*)