Kate Kahle- Indonesian Policy-Makers Pushed to Ban Alcohol

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/03/world/asia/indonesia-bali-alcohol-ban-bill.html?ref=world&_r=0
In Indonesia, a country whose economy is fueled by tourism, legislators are close to banning alcohol. Alcohol bans have been suggested before in Indonesia, by the same Islamic political groups that are pushing for the passing of the current bill. Past arguments have been based on Islamic teachings, and have held little strength in the multifaceted religious landscape of Indonesian culture. This time they are proposing that alcohol should be banned for health reasons, which is clearly a cop-out. There have long been fears of the political Islamization of Indonesia because it is the world's most populous muslim-majority country. Political Islam has been gaining traction since the late 90s, when Indonesia began moving towards a democratic government, and have passed many regional and local laws based on Islamic law, and enforcing Islamic morality. Indonesia's equivalent of the american supreme court is currently hearing a case by an Islamic group proposing the gay sex be outlawed, and the existing adultery law be expanded to include premarital sex as an offense. Many who oppose the legislation against alcohol say that it is just a front to make Indonesia a state ruled by Islamic law.

I think that banning alcohol in Indonesia would practically kill an economy based mainly on tourism. I also think that it is entirely wrong to make laws based on morality. It is not the place of the government to decide what moral views its citizens take, and to decide that the nation should follow the code of one religion. Political Islam's desired goal reminds me of a dystopia that you would find in some dumb YA novel. It may seem good in theory, but in practice there are lots of unintended consequence. It also reminds me of the Iran of the 1980s, as shown in Persepolis. Like the burkini ban in France, the government has no business enforcing its morality onto all of its citizens. Morality is something deeply personal that everyone should decide for themselves.

This relates to the separation of church and state that the American Colonists worked hard to achieve. The Muslims vying for control of legislation is like the Puritans only letting Puritans vote and hold office.