Alcohol in Indonesia

Since 2014, anyone found consuming alcohol or breaching the codes on moral conduct, whether residents or visitors to Aceh, could face between six and nine cane lashes.

[3] In other parts of Indonesia, to appease the Islamic parties and pressure groups, the government agreed to apply mild restriction measures on alcohol, which includes high taxation and limited bans.

Since then, as a Muslim-majority country, Indonesian Muslims share Islamic dietary laws that prohibit alcoholic beverages.

[9] Certain ethno-cultural regions which are predominantly Christian are known for their affinity to alcohol-drinking traditions; such as the Batak, Torajan, Minahasan, Ambonese and Papuan.

Indonesia has its own traditional alcoholic beverages prepared by fermenting rice grain, gluten, sugar palm sap, and coconuts.

According to culinary expert William Wongso, the culture of drinking distilled alcohol was never strong in Indonesia, with only a few regions having developed it.

[11] In the Toraja lands of South Sulawesi, their version of tuak — made from fermented sugar palm sap, is called ballo.

[16] In Solo, Central Java, ciu, a local adaptation of Chinese wine, made from cider molasses of sugarcane is well known.

[19] In April 2019, the East Nusa Tenggara provincial government supported the legal aspect of production and distribution of sopi, a local traditional alcoholic beverage.

It was replacement of the 1997 decree after the Supreme Court abolished it following appeals from hard-line religious groups like the Islamic Defenders Front.

The 2012 court ruling came after a draft bill proposed by the United Development Party (PPP) to completely ban the sale, production and consumption of alcohol in Indonesia.

However, the 2013 presidential regulation was welcomed by travel agencies in the wake of the harmful effects of the proposed draft on tourism.

Diageo manufactures Smirnoff and Captain Morgan products in Bali, which qualifies both brands for classification as locally produced spirits.

[32] These illicitly produced liquors which are traditionally home-made, are considered illegal by Indonesian law, due to the high incidence of deadly alcohol poisoning.