Y

ogyakarta is the repository of Javanese culture, a famed center for intellectuals and students.

But the city is gaining a less attractive renown: With 26 people, most of them university students, recently passed away after consuming illegally produced alcoholic concoctions, the city is making a name for itself as a haven for bootleg liquor.

Sales of the bootleg booze, known locally as oplosan, have been mushrooming since the 1990s and the drink can be easily sourced in every corner of the city, which is home to some 120,000 university students.

Some vendors sell the drink openly, others keep their trade underground.

Many denizens of Yogyakarta '€” considered to have a relatively low cost of living '€” prefer oplosan to beer because of the price disparity and greater alcohol content.

A 300 milliliter bottle of oplosan with alcohol content of around 40 percent is sold for around Rp 30,000 (less than US$3), while a 330-ml can of Bintang-brand beer with alcohol content of 4.7 percent costs around Rp 18,000.

'€œOplosan is both bitter and sweet. As it flows down your throat, the burning sensation is fiercer than with other drinks,'€ said a Yogyakarta State University (UNY) student by the name of Arcie on Tuesday.

Like any other university student on a budget, Arcie usually chips in with friends to buy several bottles of oplosan for a drinking binge.

'€œWe drink when we are bored with our studies and societies. We have a lot of homework, but even though I drink frequently, I never fall behind,'€ he claimed.

The illegal distribution of oplosan has been making headlines in the city after 26 people died in separate incidents last week after consuming brews sold by a number of vendors.

The police arrested a couple from Depok district who allegedly produced and sold the oplosan consumed by some of the victims, including nine students from the remote and indigent province of Papua.

Local musician Gonjes Matopane said drinking oplosan was habitual among youngsters because of the drink'€™s low price.

He added that the concoctions often proved lethal, however, because producers experimented with the addition of any number of substances.

'€œThey often experiment by mixing the brew with various substances to increase the intoxicating effect,'€ said Gonjes.

Based on his experience, consumers often mix oplosan with paint thinner, mosquito repellent, sedatives, ethanol and soft drinks.

A Yogyakarta oplosan seller initialled J said most of his customers were university students, blue-collar workers and other low-income citizens.

He explained that he did not produce oplosan daily, but worked to order.

'€œWhen there'€™s orders, or on special occasions, we may produce 20 liters of oplosan. We sell a bottle of oplosan for Rp 30,000, but sometimes the youngsters haggle the price down to Rp 20,000,'€ said J.

He claimed that oplosan was in reality harmless, as producers always tasted the brew before bottling and selling it, and professed ignorance as to the cause of the recent spate of deaths.

'€œPerhaps they didn'€™t feel drunk after drinking a liter of oplosan, so they just kept drinking,'€ J hazarded.

An expert team from Sardjito General Hospital in Yogyakarta found high methanol content in the blood of an oplosan drinker who was treated and later died at the hospital.

In large doses, methanol attacks the central nervous system, weakening the victim, who eventually suffocates.

Forensic expert Lipur Riyantiningtyas said that methanol content above 15 milligrams in human blood could be fatal. '€œJust 15 milligrams can cause blindness, as it destroys the eye nerves,'€ she said.

Faisal Haryono, a physician at Sardjito Hospital, said those who had died had arrived in the early hours, already unconscious.

'€œWe might have saved them, if they'€™d been brought to the hospital earlier,'€ said Faisal.

'€œIt'€™s been a tough week. Many young and bright individuals have left us in such a regrettable way.'€
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