For too long, responsible consumers of alcohol beverages in Malaysia have been subject to one of the highest prices on the planet for drinks, whether on-trade or off-trade.
Although we contribute billions to the economy every year (On beer – $5.6 billion spent; $1 billion taxed in 2010 alone. Excluding liquor, wine, etc), there is no consultation on pricing with us, the stakeholders.
Currently, the high prices consumers face causes them to burn holes in their pockets, even for casual and irregular drinkers.
Taxes should be reduced, or at the worst, maintained until Malaysia becomes a high-income nation in 2020. Any increase in tax is not justifiable.
Reasons:
1. We already pay huge duties and taxes on every glass that we drink. It’s unjustified and very expensive at the moment compared to any other country in the region.
We already have the second highest duty on beer in the world, after Norway. But Norway has higher income of 8-9 times compared with Malaysia. Which means Malaysians probably pay the most for beer in the world.
2. The per-capita income for Malaysians is still so low and yet we still need to pay for premium prices for normal drinks. Eg: Local beer at a bar costs between $10 – $20, and imported beer $15 – $30.
In most countries, beer and soft drinks are about the same price-wise. Even tourists and expats complain of the prices here.
3. High prices cause Malaysians to drink cheap and dangerous backyard brews and compounded hard liquors (CHL) like samsu, because they have been priced-out of the market for normal, safe alcohol.
Many local producers don’t have any safety standards or quality checks. These cause various liver-related illnesses.
4. High prices also lead people to substitute alcohol for drugs. Drugs like ecstasy, erimin and such are widely available. Because of expensive alcohol, these drugs provide intoxication at very much better value-for-money.
5. Smuggling and related illegal activities are very high in Malaysia due to the high taxes. Legitimate importers lose out. Also smuggled products are often fake or expired.
6. Outlets must price their drinks more reasonably. Putting a mark-up of 200-300% is not acceptable. All around the world, bars don’t do that. This only happens here. A mark-up of 50-100% should be the maximum. Outlets need to go into the drinks industry as a long-term business, and not look at it as short-term gain. This ‘quick-buck’ and hit-and-run attitude is hurting consumers more.
7. The government should consider giving out legal brewing licenses to serious investors so that they can monitor the industry, rather then just stopping brewing licenses to limit the capacity.
Eg: Many foreigners are tempted to invest in and open microbreweries in Malaysia but because of the restriction of license, many have turned to neighbouring countries like Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.
We miss out legitimate and tourist-attracting businesses to our neighbours, and instead give backyard-industries licenses to produce CHLs.
8. The government needs to do studies on the impact of the prices.
By increasing the duty, many F&B outlets that survive on volume will be greatly effected as less people will drink. It could also affect the taxation derived.
Even worse, some outlets will be forced to shut down. That will further reduce the employment in the market.
9. The huge majority of Malaysians are responsible and social drinkers. According to the WHO, Malaysians consume very little overall, coming in at number 167 worldwide. However, any concern about the effects of becoming an alcoholic should be addressed via education, not more taxes. Eg: If motorcyclists are killed on the road, you don\’t solve the problem by banning motorcycles.
THUS, we Malaysians call upon the government, importers, distributors and F&B outlets to attend to the unsustainable situation Malaysian consumers face, and make sincere and effective efforts to price alcohol beverages at a lot more reasonable levels, in accordance with the public’s per-capita income. Comparative studies need to be done by the authorities before any further action is taken on alcohol pricing.
Please sign the petition *HERE* It’ll only take a second as you can connect it to your FB if preferable!
You can also LIKE the Alcohol-Consumer-Rights Group Malaysia *HERE*
Do blog/tweet/FB and share this with your friends.
I know a lot of you out there drink and we all have to be in this together to make a difference.
Boarding the plane.
i’m wearing Hype Means Nothing x Andy Warhol tee.
Didi and i checked into Gallery Hotel and got ready for our Friday night out there,
we stayed till Monday.
There were so many people who flew in from Malaysia, Australia, etc,
the buzz in the city was obvious as heck!
We checked out the new Avalon club at Marina Bay Sands,
which is under the same Avalon brand that is no stranger to celebs like Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher.
The glass and steel structure covers 12,000 square feet
and features state-of-the-art sound, light and visual systems.
I wore a silk dress and wire skirt (i love ittttt!) from Gallo by Thian’s AW11 collection.
Accessories from Justin Yap and thirtyfour.
Gold watch from Nooka.
Alcohol at SG events are expensive – S$15 a drink!
I discovered that it’s more economically viable to order tequila shots in place of a drink+mixer.
Ludacris!
Ok some people (like MELISSA) thought it out of ordinary that i’d like Ludacris
(seeing i had little enthusiasm when watching Snoop Dogg and Jay-Z in UK last year)
but Ludacris was out when i was in college
AKA the times when i used to party to R&B and hip hop.
I FELT SO LUCKY to watch him live!
Went all gangsta dancing and singing along to MOVE BITCH GET OUTTA WAY
GET OUTTA THE WAY BITCH
GET OUTTA THE WAY!
LMFAO was rocking too
I managed to catch Jesh,
who brought me backstage woohoo thanks!!
Jesh in the middle.
Even with the free flow backstage,
i was so tipsy i didn’t dare to drink anymore
The Bloody Beetroots were AWESOME!
I saw them in Zouk SG one time but it was too crowded to dance properly.
This time i danced, jumped and skipped the whole time through!
Went outside and bumped into Zhou Ping,
my old college friend, and her buddies.
Then i stumbled around looking for Didi…
And bumped into more peeps from KL
I even walked all the way back to Avalon club
and got told by the bouncer i JUST missed the whole group of Sa and Nadia leaving.
Couldn’t get through ANY of their phones -_-
Looked at the time and saw it was 4:30am
(i LOVE HOW SINGAPORE PARTIES TILL LATE)
and thought, daymn what am i doing?
Maybe Didi’s already BACK at the hotel..!
Bumped into Johan and Charmaine
who were really nice to make sure i got into a taxi safely.
Then i went home to find… Didi snuggled up in her bed.
“You’re alive!” i shouted. She thought i was passed out somewhere in my own vomit.
Hello… i’m 28 ok.
Can’t do shit like that no more.
I was pretty flattered when the peeps handling Marc Jacobs and Chloe fragrances asked whether i’d be keen to give away perfumes to my readers.
Just recently i’ve been taking the effort to post up contests (as you can see from the previous week!)
This week, you have a chance to WIN:
– best-selller Chloe Signature EDP worth RM315
– the new Marc Jacobs Oh, Lola! EDP worth RM313
There’s a Your Flower, Your Fragrance booth outside Parkson Ground Floor in KLCC
with some tempting Marc Jacobs and Chloe fragrance promotions.
All you have to do is
visit the booth and take a picture of yourself
posing with the beautiful flower displays or fragrance bottles.
That’s it!
The first 8 readers to submit their picture stand a chance to win.
Out of those 8, the most creative 2 will win the fragrances.
You can either tweet me the picture when you’re in KLCC to @joycethefairy
or email it to – joycethefairy@gmail.com.
Visit the booth whenever convenient to you (10am-10pm) and give in your pic by 30th September 2011.
Even *i* don’t know too much about it,
cos it’s such a big secret and kept superhush
but i can’t wait to find out more!
Can you guess what it’s gonna be?!
I was just talking to someone about it last night,
and we were speculating what it’s going to be like when it happens.
I DID feel guilty when i dumped Clem for Topshop one weekend!
We went to Pavilion to buy him shoes,
and because we’re ALREADY there (and Topshop is so near right)
i thought i’d *drop* by to very quickly see what’s new.
Very quickly became half an hour.
The whole time i was in the store,
i kept on telling myself that Clem was waiting BUT i couldn’t stop…
In the end he abandoned me to Topshop,
and went off to check out oven pans in Parkson or something.
:p
Just last week, i was showing Clem yet another Topshop piece i bought,
and he said:
“You have so many Topshop clothes
you can just open your own Topshop.”
Men.
Don’t understand.
Anyway Topshop will be launching their Autumn Winter 2011 collection soon,
and is giving away a RM1000 Topshop cash voucher!!!
So you gotta share your favourite fashion rule at any Topshop store.
The competition will start tomorrow, 23 Sept till 23 Oct 2011 at all stores.
