An Islam-based political party has proposed a new draft bill to ban alcohol sales in Indonesia.

"The PPP initiated the draft bill on alcohol because we feel alcohol is not in keeping with Islamic teaching and will ruin the next generation of Indonesians," said United Development Party (PPP) chairman Suryadharma Ali, who is also the Minister of Religious Affairs.

The remarks were delivered as part of his speech at a seminar, titled "The Urgency of the Draft Bill on Alcohol: Save the Next Generation," held in Jakarta on Thursday. The event was also attended by legal expert Jimly Asshiddiqie, head of the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) Slamet Effendy Yusuf, Nahdlatul Ulama cleric Masdar F. Mas'udi and Muhammadiyah cleric Abdul Mu'ti.

Suryadharma said the bill had been drafted because the existing legal framework applying to alcohol, which is based on a 1997 presidential decree, had become invalid after presidential decrees were left out of a hierarchy of types of law set out in the 2011 Law on Regulations and Legislation.

"In that hierarchy there is no longer such a thing as a presidential decree," Suryadharma said.

Despite the minister's assertion, clause 100 of the 2011 Law on Regulations and Legislation clearly states that pre-existing presidential decrees remain valid law until overruled by a new legal product under the revised hierarchy of laws.

The 1997 decree creates three categories for alcoholic drinks: A (with an alcohol content of 5 percent or less), B (5 percent to 20 percent) and C (20 percent to 55 percent).

The law states that the sale of alcohol classified as B and C should be controlled and limited to places such as hotels, restaurants, nightclubs and duty-free shops. Alcohol classified in the A group, such as beer, can be sold anywhere.

Suryadharma said the PPP's 39-year history as an Islamic party meant it had a special interest in putting forward the draft bill. "The PPP has become home to Muslims, so the fight for this bill is very important," he said.

The minister said the recent horrific traffic accident in which a drunk driver killed nine pedestrians near Tugu Tani in Jakarta was evidence of the need for the bill.

He said a survey conducted by the police in Christian-majority North Sulawesi found that alcohol played a role in around 70 percent of crimes and 15 percent of road accidents there.

Religious vigilante groups have been known to take enforcement of alcohol restrictions into their own hands.