Festive cheer beyond the means of many a tourist in Indonesia
Updated
Indonesia may be the world's most populous Muslim nation, but that doesn't mean it's immune from the Christian festive season. Hotels and department stores in Jakarta and Bali embrace the commercial spirit of Christmas. But Christmas cheer may be harder to find: a new anti-corruption drive is making imported alcohol prohibitively expensive.
Presenter: Geoff Thompson, Indonesia Correspondent
Speaker: Michael Burchett, general manager of the Conrad Hotel in Nusa Dua and chairman of the Bali Hotels Association
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GEOFF THOMPSON: Eighty-eight per cent of Indonesia's 225-million people are Muslims but that doesn't mean the spirit of Christmas commercialism isn't haunting the halls of department stores and hotels in Jakarta and Bali.
Fake snowflakes tumble to the ground in several Jakarta malls where Santa sits kids on his knee and young girls wearing head scarves pose for photographs in front of a winter wonderland of white painted wood.
But this festive season one vital ingredient of festive cheer will be beyond the means of many Australian tourists holidaying in Bali.
Michael Burchett is the general manager of the Conrad Hotel in Nusa Dua and chairman of the Bali Hotels Association.
MICHAEL BURCHETT: The challenge we have now in Bali is that a glass of most wine will cost you, you know 20 to 30 per cent, maybe even 50 per cent more than what you'll pay in London or New York or Moscow and that doesn't make sense for Bali so we need to fix that and fix it quickly.
GEOFF THOMPSON: The problem has actually always been there in the form of heavy taxes and duties on imported alcohol. These were got around in the past either by buying booze on the black market or because the original value of imported alcohol was open to creative negotiations, meaning that heavy taxes and duties on say a $10 bottle of wine were not prohibitively expensive if customs officials agreed to value the wine at say just $2 a bottle.
But Indonesia's anti-corruption drive has put an end to much of that and now the only imported wine and spirits available at hotels and bars have been hit with the full taxes on the real value.
Michael Burchett again:
MICHAEL BURCHETT: The actual taxes are quite significant. You know you go 150 per cent for duty, you've got 40 per cent for luxury tax, you've got another 10 per cent for a PPN tax. So you add it all up and you're 380 to 400 per cent by the time you've finished. That's a lot.
GEOFF THOMPSON: And it's too much for Bali's fragile tourism market to bear. The global financial crisis is already threatening to force layoffs in the industry just as it was recovering from fear surrounding the executions of the Bali bombers and the attacks they and other terrorists brought to the island in the past.
Bali's Governor Mangku Pastika was lobbied and he then lobbied President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono when he was last in Bali to co-chair a democracy forum with Kevin Rudd. However with an election year looming in which the support of Islamic parties will be important, SBY won't be rushing to align himself with alcohol drinkers.
