For those who love holidaying in exotic Indonesia but are afraid of drinking when there may have reason to put their concerns to bed. After an Aussie teen died a few months ago after drinking alcoholic drinks laced with toxic methanol, many Australians (and people from around the world) have been afraid to return to the island or consume alcoholic drinks, especially cocktails while on holiday in that part of the world. But now Indonesian authorities have vowed to get to the bottom of the issue by revoking the business licence of any place found to be selling cheap, unregistered alcohol.
The incident was a wake-up call to many tourists that cheap, homemade alcohol is a common occurrence in many of these developing holiday nations because more money can be made by purchasing cheaper alcohol. Homemade alcohol has now been banned on the holiday island and business risk losing their right to do business if they are caught by authorities.
Read more below with a post taken from Abc.net.au:
Tourism authorities on an Indonesian holiday island are cracking down on homemade alcohol after the death of an Australian teenager last month.
Liam Davies from Perth died from methanol poisoning after drinking cocktails at a bar on Lombok Island near Bali.
Now the North Lombok tourism office is threatening to revoke the business licences of any outlet found to be selling unregistered alcohol.
Office spokesman FahmanToriki says they are concerned tourists will stop coming to the popular holiday area unless they clean up the alcohol industry.
He says they have told all hotels on nearby GiliTrawangan Island that they are not allowed to sell homemade alcohol.
Mr Toriki says a campaign has also begun to warn tourists against drinking unregistered drinks.
Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-13/indonesia-holiday-island-vows-alcohol-crackdown/4517354
A similar incident occurred last year in the Czech Republic when 22 people died after drinking methanol laced vodka. Vodka is a common drink in that part of the world and there has never been too much restriction on alcohol sales until now.
Although these incidents are extremely tragic, we can learn from them. Even though it is unlikely that we will encounter fake alcohol in Oz, we should still be careful when purchasing alcohol, especially when travelling overseas make sure you know what you’re drinking and that you are buying a sealed bottle from a reputable place.
The substances the criminals usually make fake alcohol with is poisonous, including chemicals such as cleaning fluids, nail polish remover, isopropanol and as in this case methanol. People are often fooled by these fakes because they give off the same feeling as normal alcohol at first, but it’s only a matter of time before the effects turn deadly. Rather pay more but know that what you are drinking is safe but if you cannot determine for certain whether the alcohol is legit, abstain altogether.