Surabaya Govt Ready to Review Draft Regulation on Alcoholic Drink

Surabaya (Antara Jatim) - The Surabaya city government in East Java is ready to review a draft municipal regulation on alcoholic drinks if various community stakeholders reject it, an official said.

"We are trying to coordinate with the East Java provincial government's legal bureau to see what the proposal looks like. If the draft regulation is rejected, we will review it to formulate a better one," Secretary of the Surabaya City Administration, Hendro Gunawan, said after attending a plenary meeting at the Surabaya City Legislative Assembly (DPRD) building here on Tuesday. 
  
Many parties are opposed to the draft regulation as it contains a clause allowing hypermarkets and supermarkets to sell alcoholic drinks that have less than 5 percent alcohol content. 
  
In principle, the city government fully supports the decision of the special committee for draft regulation on control and supervision of alcoholic drinks, he said.

The draft regulation was designed to control rather than to ban the circulation of liquor in the city.

Therefore, liquor will be sold in certain places and consumers can be identified, he said.

If the circulation of liquor is not controlled, everybody will start selling it, leading to a dangerous situation as it will allow illegal liquor to enter the city, he said. (*)