bobjots : redux

Once again a Pakatan ruled state is in the limelight for the wrong reasons. This time the focus is on a row that has erupted between 2 component parties within Selangor’s ruling coalition over a proposal by PAS to ban the sale of alcohol in the state. At least, that’s how the media has generally portrayed it.

What I was eventually made to understand was that the proposal was to restrict the sale of alcohol beverages (ie. removing it from the shelves of sundry shops/grocers, and convenience stores) and improve the enforcement of the ban on alcohol sale to minors as well as Muslims.

To be honest, I was really irked by the way the whole affair has developed. Are we really that polarised that even a matter like this has to degenerate into an affair where lines are drawn between the different ethnic and creedal communities?

I am pretty much a believer in the creed of caveat emptor. We have allowed the state to “protect” us so much that it borders on the absurd. Imagine an MP getting a visit from a constituent seeking the former’s help in counselling the latter’s domestic worker because she tends to wake up late in the morning!?

Back to the alcohol issue – I believe the dangers of alcohol abuse is quite well documented. The social, health and economic costs of such abuse is evident in our society. So what ought to be addressed is, perhaps, not the sale of alcohol itself but the public health perspective of this matter. I am sure that even PAS and DAP can find common ground there and work on a joint proposal.

A lot that ought to be done to tackle this issue has not even been mentioned. Here are some possible pro-active and more positive approaches that perhaps can be considered:

• Public Education Campaigns On Substance Abuse
  Yep .. ethanol IS a form of narcotic. Incidentally, so is nicotine. As a smoker and an occasional imbiber of alcoholic beverages (mainly during Holy Communion nowadays .. haha) myself, I can attest to the fact that it is way easier and much more socially acceptable to drink in public than it is to smoke in public .. go figure.
• Positive Campaigning To Encourage Responsible Alcohol Use
  One model, albeit somewhat controversial, would be the one advocated by the organisation Choose Responsibility
• Formalised Training of Community Health Workers To Address The Issue of Substance Abuse
  The state can organise formal vocational training for community workers and volunteers to engage these issues. Programmes and curriculums do exist (more on this below)
• Encouraging The Establishment Of Alcohol Rehabilitation and Drug Detox Centres
  The state and the private sector can cooperate in the establishment of more centres that provide alcohol rehab programs to complement existing social services and help contribute to the local economy as well
• Enforce Penalties Against Sellers Who Do Not Verify The Age Of Buyers
  This really ought to go without saying and does not need any legislative changes. The laws on this already exist. Go enforce it already!

All of the measures above (I’m sure many others can think of more) would probably do much more in addressing the real problem that is alcohol abuse instead of criminalising and marginalising the victims. I doubt that removing alcohol from the shelves will work. It might even backfire and encourage criminal activity instead (does Al Capone and the Prohibition era ring any bells?). The people who are proposing and opposing such measures should consider – are they really interested in helping deal with a social problem or do they just want to punish offenders (or on the flip side, let them get away scot free).

Vocational training programmes in social care and community services usually engages community health issues like mental health, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, child abuse etc. That is true both in the United Kingdom as well as Australia (do a search in the NTIS database for syllabus and programme details) where our vocational training system is modelled after.

Maybe its time the Department of Skills Development (or the state counterpart if federal cooperation is not forthcoming) start including these sectors into the National Occupational Skills Standard (the whole social services sector and many more are totally missing from our NOSS!?) and embark on a campaign to train civil society and NGO workers. This might even be a good opportunity to retrain workers in these sectors as more jobs get lost with the ongoing recession (substance abuse and economic hardship does have a verifiable co-relation).

Pakatan ruled states have a wonderful opportunity to model a different way of doing things right now! Get a few problems solved instead of creating new ones for crying out loud.