Indonesia’s trade minister reportedly says Bali won’t be exempt from the impending national “beer ban” that will prohibit minimarkets and small vendors from selling beer and liquor. He also said there’s a fat chance that the regulation will be revoked.
But don’t start bawling and ask for the tisu just yet, because the Jakarta Post is reporting that he has promised some sort of solution for Bali, particularly for small vendors in tourist areas of Bali whose bread and butter is beer.
“After hearing their aspirations, I respect what the vendors want. Thus, we will seek out a solution. For small vendors in tourism areas, we will create a system and figure out how to manage it,” Rachmat said during a meeting on the regulation in Denpasar on Saturday, as quoted by the Jakarta Post.
Note that he apparently said this after getting yelled at by angry vendors who said the government is showing no care for the “little people” by stealing away their business and redirecting it to big supermarkets and restaurants.
Not surprisingly, the new alcohol regulation has been met with strong opposition in Bali, where Bintang flows quicker than Aqua galon.
The regulation stipulates that drinks with alcohol content of one to five percent can only be sold in supermarkets and hypermarkets and is supposed to come into effect April 16 (a mere two days!), meaning all those beach vendors, minimarkets, and warungs are estimated to suffer significant revenue losses.
The JakPost says we don’t know any deers yet about Rachmat’s plan to help small vendors in Bali, but he did mention beachside vendors could possible form a cooperative and work together under a “restaurant” label.
“It is not an exemption. We will only manage the system so that you can keep selling beer and keep serving tourists,” he said.
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