Cheap booze brings pain

I refer to the letter, Cheap booze brings pain and this brings to mind several things.

If the reason for the Malaysia's very high tax policy on beer and liquor is to stem, if not eradicate, the conspicuous consumption of alcohol, it sure looks to me it's an abject failure. As the writer said so piquantly in the letter, the misery compounded by cheap and easily available liquor is very painful to witness, and difficult to ignore.

I also wonder if our nation's high tax levy on alcohol {believed to be among the highest in the world, next to Norway}, is also having the desired objective in the mainstream beer market. Let me illustrate. For example, we can easily buy a can of 320ml of locally brewed 'C' beer from sundry shops, grocery shops, coffee-shops, and hypermarkets at prices ranging from RM4.50 to 5.80 per can. However, we can also easily purchase similarly sized cans of foreign 'F', 'SM' or 'KF' etc etc at a standard price of RM10.00 for three 320ml cans! (All these brands have approx 5% alcohol content). That is, at RM3.35 per can.

What is even more amazing is in these outlets, we can also purchase the bigger and stronger foreign beer {500ml and alcohol content ranging from 8% to even 15%} at a standard price of RM5.50 per 500ml can! Some of the brands are 'B', 'KFstrong', 'SM', 'H', etc etc.

It would seem to me that high taxes is not the solution to our drinking woes, rather it's the lack of enforcement and the absence of guidelines on the sale and the imbibing of liquor that is the root of the problems outlined by the writer.

The availability of cheaper, stronger and more popular foreign brands in our market is a sure sign that something is not right in this sector of our business.