0 Planned Batam brewery fizzles over govt rules

The Batam Free Trade Zone Authority (BP FTZ) says that central government regulations have led local officials to reject a Swiss proposal to build a S$250 million (US$200 million) brewery in Batam, Riau Islands. Ilham Eka Hartawan, a spokesman for the authority, told The Jakarta Post on Monday that the head of Eicoglobal Holding AG, Arthur Kurt Eilers, initially discussed the firm’s proposal at the 2013 Mustermesse Basel (MUBA) Exposition, held at the Swiss Embassy in Jakarta on Feb. 22. 

Ilham said that the Swiss firm had seen “many benefits in Batam, such as land, location, transportation and available raw materials, so they deemed building a brewery in Batam as something that was very suitable”. The BP FTZ had previously told Eicoglobal Holding AG about local manufacturers in Batam that might support the proposed brewery, according to the spokesman. “Batam is also home to glass bottle manufacturers in line with the needs of a brewery. According to the plan, the brewery would have exported their products, which were not intended for the domestic market,” Ilham said. 

The authority rejected the firms proposal on the basis of Presidential Regulation No. 36/2010, the government’s so-called negative investment list, which bans investment in alcoholic beverage industries, in addition to 18 other types of investment. “We expressed to them that breweries were included on the negative list, so they could not build a brewery in Batam,” Ilham said. “The negative list of enterprises is in effect across the country, including in special economic zones, such as Batam. We conveyed this to the Swiss ambassador to Indonesia, so he would discuss the matter to Eicoglobal Holding AG.” 

“From the aspect of the presidential regulation [breweries] have been banned, so we also could not accept the investment in Batam. The BP FTZ has no plan to propose a revision of the regulation,” Ilham said. According to the spokesman, plans for the brewery had raised community concerns. During Friday prayers on March 15, for example, the brewery became a topic of the sermons at several local mosques. A number of Islamic organizations in Batam have reportedly voiced their concerns, including Azhari Abbas, the head of the Riau Islands chapter of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), who disagreed with the construction of a brewery for religious reasons. 

“It’s improper and I don’t agree with the presence of an alcoholic drink producer in Batam,“ Azhari said. ”We will question this. [We won’t] let it suddenly materialize and only then raise our qualms about it.” “I wish for this to be discussed and prevented from being realized. We have heard that it has become a hot topic of public discussion .” Azhari said that the MUI would call for members of Islamic organizations to consider the brewery with an open mind and to refrain from anarchy.

source : the jakarta post