GEORGE TOWN: Failure by the authorities to take a tough stand on the control of alcohol sales has led to the latest methanol poisoning cases in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor which claimed 19 lives and left 14 others in a critical state, the Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) said.
Stressing that CAP “is not at all surprised” with the latest incident, its president S.M. Mohamed Idris said its repeated calls for the authorities to act sternly on the matter in the past four decades had fallen on deaf ears and gotten knee-jerk reaction.
He said that it was a known fact that some shops were selling smuggled booze.
“Such methanol poisoning is not the first neither would it be the last because it had happened in 1977 with 18 deaths, 1979 (21 deaths) and 1981 (32 deaths).
“The reason for this is the adulteration of samsu, beers or liquor with cheap but poisonous methanol (commercially sold as methylated spirit),” he said in a statement today.
Citing the Thai scenario, Idris said, in 2005, the Thais spontaneously took to the streets in Bangkok to protest against the application for a stock market listing by Thailand’s biggest brewer and distiller; and succeeded with the rejection of the brewer’s submission.
He said that it was the result of the Thais noticing that families broke up, students’ failing grades, the number of accidents related to drunk driving, and fights that happened after guzzling alcohol.
“Just like the Thais, Malaysians should also take ownership of issues affecting them rather than adopting the ‘tidak apa’ (lackadaisical) attitude.
“We want to appeal to our policymakers to make or amend laws to be more stringent to curb alcohol sale as we can see now that alcohol outlets are mushrooming and operating with little monitoring by the authorities,” he stressed, noting that the call for a tough restriction on alcohol was made on six broad grounds. They are:
* Alcohol poses health risks;
* Social ills resulting from alcohol intoxication;
* Road accidents related to alcohol consumption;
* Unnecessary expenditure on alcohol consumption that could have been diverted to family budget;
* Alcohol-related domestic violence; and
* Prevention of methanol poisoning as it could result in death.
Idris said the harms that alcohol wrought upon the society demanded immediate attention.
He added that although the government raised the minimum legal age for the consumption of alcohol from 18 to 21 on Dec 1, last year, it had not addressed the problems related to it.
“A glaring example is that it is impossible to monitor whether the numerous alcohol retail outlets are adhering to the verification of the age of suspiciously young purchasers.
“Malaysian statistics show that per capita alcohol consumption (litres per year) is worrying. It has been increasing from 0.8 litres per year in 2005 to 1.2 litres in 2010 and 1.7 litres in 2015.
“In 2011, Kuala Lumpur had the highest number of current drinkers at about 154,200 (19.3 per cent) of the population; Sarawak, 440,000 (17.8 per cent); Sabah/Labuan, 526,440 (16.4 per cent); and Penang, 221,520 (14.2 per cent),” he said.
Moreover, Idris said, those earning less than RM3,000 (3.0 per cent) and those living in the rural areas (284,160 of the population) tend to spend more of their income on alcohol than the general urban population (681,790 population) in 2016.
Of those in the general population who consume alcohol, the youngest age group detected was between 13 and 14 years-old, he added.
“It is a worrying development because those earning below RM3,000 are supposed to be under the B40 category.
“Their smoking and/or drinking jeopardise their expenditure on food and other essentials for the family,” he lamented, pointing to the fact that according to a 2016 report, Malaysians spend more than RM2 billion on alcohol annually, making it the 10th largest consumer in the world.
Alcohol consumption, Idris said, caused no less than a dozen diseases such
as anaemia, cardiovascular diseases, cirrhosis, dementia, gout, and it also increased the risk of cancer.
In 2012, it was attributed to 30.8 per cent of liver cirrhosis in males and 28.6 per cent in females and the Road Safety Council estimated that drunk driving caused 30 per cent of road accidents nationwide with 38 per cent of these resulted in fatalities.
It has been estimated that in 2016, there were two billion people worldwide who consumed alcohol beverages and 2.8 million people died of alcohol-related causes.
Idris said a study had also shown that absenteeism from workplace related to alcohol consumption is 16 times higher than for some other reasons.
As such, Idris stressed that CAP was proposing:
* Alcohol outlets should not to be permitted within a 500m radius around any housing area, hospital, educational and religious institution;
* Alcohol should not be sold at Perwira Niaga Malaysia (Pernama), retail outlets that serve Malaysian Armed Forces since 1983;
* The opening hours of outlets that serve alcohol be restricted, for example from 1pm until 9pm, and furniture such as tables and chairs should not be placed outside the outlet (including five-foot way);
* Introduce mandatory jail sentence for those who sells smuggled or adulterated alcohol on which duty that has not paid duty;
* Impose Sin Tax on alcohol (just as for cigarettes) and use it for health promotion purposes by the Malaysia Health Promotion Board (MHPB);
* Forbid the sale of duty-free cigarettes and alcohol, even at airports; and
* Total ban of alcohol advertisements.
“We propose that the Sin Tax be imposed on alcohol the same way it was is done on tobacco and cigarettes so that the tax can be used to fund health and educational programmes related to the dangers of alcohol consumption and smoking.
“Programmes can be carried out by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with fundings disbursed by the MHPB, which was established in 2006.
“CAP is of the view that alcohol consumption has to be de-normalised for a healthier Malaysia,” he added.