Farmer, Culture and ‘Tuak’

Public discussion on Alcoholic Beverage

In the beginning of February, Yogyakarta was shocked by news of some death persons after consuming alcoholic beverage mixed with various substances. The latest information stated 26 people died and two of them were female students from Ternate who found died in their boarding house. It drove a students group, called Freedom Society to conduct a public discussion on alcoholic beverage from upstream to downstream, titled "Assessing the Draft of Law on Prohibition of Alcoholic Beverages Based on Social, Economy and Cultural Perspective". The event was held on Thursday, February 11, 2016 at the auditorium of Faculty of Philosophy, Gadjah Mada University.

Refered to many problems arose from the danger of alcoholic beverages, the Indonesian House of Representative initiated a draft on prohibition of alcoholic beverages. Unfortunately, the draft could not be discussed at that moment because none of the facilitators invited was from House of Representatives. Many participants attended the discussion, at least 120 participants from various campuses. Several guest speakers invited were from academic figures and activists, such as:

• Reymond Michael M (a researcher on Anthropology, University of Indonesia),
• Adi Christianto (Forum of Farmers and Manufacturers of Fermented Beverages),
• Agus Wahyudi (Institute of Justice),
• Priyambodo (UPKM/Community Development (CD) Bethesda).

Each speaker explained different issues. Reymond Michael M, opened the discussion by three questions: Who? Drink what? Where? Based on the three questions, it’s found that drinking ‘Cap Tikus’ (a kind of alcoholic beverage) in the eastern part of Indonesia is a local culture, which cannot be separated from the society. In Manado, traditional producers of alcoholic beverages ‘Cap Tikus’ sell their products not only to public as beverages, but also to manufacture of pharmaceuticals, hospitals and even abroad. Most people in Manado and Tuban (East Java) drink ‘Cap Tikus’, wine or liquor for energy supplement before going to work and  for restoring energy before they take a rest, to be fresh when they wake up. Finaly it comes a joke, drinking one glass is for blood supplement, two glasses makes high blood pressure and three glasses means spilling blood.

Agus Wahyudi explained if alcoholic beverage distribution is prohibited in Indonesia, black market will happen and be more dangerous because the materials used are illegal and risky for the consumers. While Priyambodo added, the materials used in traditional alcoholic beverages manufacture were natural products, such as noni and palm trees. Manufacturers did not use hazardous substances. So far there was no report that drinking ‘tuak’ (name of traditional alcoholic beverage) causes death, but so far, drinking 'oplosan' (mixed beverages) causes death. The incident above gave impact to farmers who produce traditional beverages, as it is the way they earn for daily needs.

All guest speakers delivered the material well, however, no competent speaker who conveyed the draft, so the impacted people cannot express their opinion. As the conclusion, the government should really examine the impact of this law and offer solution for those who work in traditional alcoholic beverages industry. Hopefully, this report will enrich our knowledge. (SAP)