Foreign govts tell Bali to control arak

DENPASAR/MATARAM. Following the recent death of a tourist after consuming methanol-tainted arak palm wine on the island of Lombok, the governments of Australia and the UK demanded that the Bali provincial administration apply stricter controls on the production and distribution of local alcoholic beverages, arak in particular, throughout the island.

After drinking the deadly liquor during his New Year holiday on Gili Trawangan, a small islet off the coast of Lombok, Australian national Liam Davies, 19, was flown back to Sir Charles Gardner hospital in Perth. He died at the hospital in January.

Arak is a locally made liquor often mixed — by sellers or drinkers — with dangerous substances ranging from methanol to mosquito repellent, to increase the seller’s profit margin and, for the drinkers, to get drunk faster and cheaper. A methanol overdose can be seen through symptoms such as vomiting, dizziness, stomachache, kidney failure, permanent blindness or comas. In 2009, at least 18 people across Bali died due to arak poisoning.

Further incidents had happened to tourists in Bali, said head of the Bali Tourism Agency Ida Bagus Kade Subhiksu on Wednesday. “They became seriously ill, but none of them died,” said Subhiksu.

Subhiksu said his agency received numerous emails from Australia, the UK and other countries with questions on the issue. The Australian Consulate General in Bali has also met with the Bali governor.

“We have been bombarded with questions over the distribution of arak in Bali, demanding stricter
controls on the production and distribution of this type of alcohol to avoid it harming residents and visitors,” said Subhiksu at a working meeting of the Indonesia Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) Bali chapter.

Subhiksu gave assurances that the governor’s regulation on alcohol beverages and a special monitoring team coordinated by the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) would be able to prevent the harmful effects of the beverage among visitors and local residents.

“We routinely perform sweeps. We’re doing our best to prevent any further victims,” he said, while calling on all hotels, restaurants, bars and alcohol beverage vendors to stop distributing alcohol beverages without labels and official licenses from the health agency and the Monitoring Agency of Drugs and Food (BPOM).

PHRI Bali chapter head Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardhana Sukawati said most hotels, restaurants and bars only offered alcoholic beverages with official labels. “Arak methanol is never offered on menus,” he said.

Meanwhile, the West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Tourism Promotion Board has urged the NTB provincial and lower regional administrations to tighten regulations and control the distribution of alcoholic drinks in resort areas in NTB.

The move is aimed at preventing alcohol poisoning in resort areas, such as in the case of Davies.

“The case has spread bad news in Australia and tarnished the image of tourism in NTB, especially in Gili Trawangan. If we fail to manage and deal with the matter, in the long term the issue could create negative views to the disadvantage of our tourism industry, which is currently flourishing,” NTB Tourism Promotion Board head Awanadhi Aswinabawa told reporters in Mataram on Wednesday.

The NTB Police and North Lombok Police are still investigating the death of Davies. Police also plan to curb the distribution of alcoholic drinks on the island.

NTB Police chief Brig. Gen. Moch Iriawan told reporters in Mataram on Wednesday that the police had so far questioned a number of witnesses, including employees and the proprietor of a bar where Davies and his friends were on a drinking binge. Police have also examined drink samples sold at the bar. (Wasti Atmodjo and Panca Nugraha, The Jakarta Post)