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Supreme Court backs alcoholic beverages ruling
The Supreme Court reaffirmed its recent decision to abolish a presidential decree, which barred local administrations from prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages, denying having given leeway for hardliners to conduct illegal raids on nightclubs, bars and restaurants, as Muslims began observing Ramadhan
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he Supreme Court reaffirmed its recent decision to abolish a presidential decree, which barred local administrations from prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages, denying having given leeway for
hardliners to conduct illegal raids on nightclubs, bars and restaurants, asMuslims began observing Ramadhan.
The ruling has created a legal vacuum regarding alcoholic beverages at central government level, which has caused a threat to the pluralistic society.
The hard-line group the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) deemed no other legal reason to annul any bylaws banning alcoholic beverages, because of the fact the Islam is the majority religion. The FPI, notorious for its violent raids against establishments that sell alcohol, filed the judicial review.
Officials, including National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo, said civilians and mass organizations, including the FPI, had no authority to conduct raids on these places, even during and after Ramadhan.
The abolition of the decree means that hotels, bars and clubs will no longer have automatic legal protection to freely sell alcoholic drinks. Local administrations are now also free to ban or
allow, the sale of alcoholic beverages in their areas.
Since it was now very easy to find alcoholic drinks, Supreme Court spokesman Ridwan Mansyur said, giving the local administrations authority to control and monitor alcoholic beverages would deter such
illegal raids.
'Instead, the ruling was made merely to prevent anarchy,' Ridwan told a press conference on Wednesday. 'Local administrations are the ones who know the exact characteristic of their communities, not the central government. In some areas, people may strongly reject alcoholic drinks, while in other areas the people may not object to it."
No one should question FPI's legal standing as the law allowed groups and individuals to file such petition, he added.
