Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja – Soft drinks vendor Sutarto was shocked when he saw a sedan drive into a fountain and tip over with a loud splash last month.

The incident, which occurred at the iconic Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in downtown Jakarta, took place in the wee hours of a weekday. Said Sutarto, 40: "It didn't look like an accident. I thought people were making a film, especially when the driver stumbled out of the car without injuries."

As it turns out, police investigations revealed the driver was drunk. It was the sixth time this year that drunk drivers had plunged their vehicles into the fountain. The vehicles included a Porsche Boxster sports car.

In all cases, the drivers – both Indonesians and expatriates – were uninjured. Among the photos that ran in local newspapers was one of three men looking confused and standing on the roof of the submerged car.

The incidents highlight the trend of rising alcohol consumption in Indonesia, despite some 80 per cent of the 238 million population identifying themselves as Muslim. Drinking alcohol is forbidden in Islam.

According to the World Health Organization, drinkers in Indonesia consumed on average 16.5 litters in 2005, compared to 30.3 liters in Malaysia, where about 60 per cent of the population are Muslim.

There are no recent figures available but anecdotal evidence suggests Indonesians are drinking more today. This is especially so in the capital Jakarta, where middle-class incomes are rising and going out to nightclubs and wine bars is becoming the norm for young working professionals.

Three nightspot owners interviewed by The Straits Times confirmed that they are selling more beer and cocktails compared to five years ago, even though high taxes are levied on alcohol.

A nightspot owner – – who declined to be named – said the tax on a bottle of wine was around 400 per cent, with a bottle of basic table wine costing around Rp 300,000 ($35.40). Cocktails average around Rp 110,000, while a can of the locally brewed Bintang beer costs around Rp 12,000 at a minimart.

Alcohol was not available in Jakarta's supermarkets and mini-markets up until 2006, but beer is now a staple even in suburban minimarts, and wine has started making an appearance in upscale supermarket chains.

An employee at Iguana Dangdut Bar in Menteng, Central Jakarta, said sales of beer have gone up in the past three years and Bintang beer is the most favored.

The legal drinking age in Indonesia is 21. More people are also driving drunk.

Last week, four people were killed and three wounded when a sport utility vehicle plunged into a river beside a West Jakarta road at around 4 a.m. Police suspected the driver was under the influence of alcohol.

Late last month, Jakarta police said they would step up sobriety checks and breathalyzer tests on motorists traveling through main thoroughfares.

"Deterrent measures are important so they won't do it again next time," Colonel Royke Lumowa, Jakarta police director in charge of traffic management, told news portal Kompas.com.

Colonel Royke confirmed that the accidents at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle were linked to drink driving, saying police would put illuminated signs at the circle to alert drivers.

Indonesian law does not dictate a maximum blood alcohol concentration limit, but drivers who are found by a police officer to be under the influence of alcohol can end up being heavily fined.

Those who cannot afford to go out for drinks are making their own alcohol, said sociologist Otto Hernowohadi. At least a dozen people have died this year from drinking homemade moonshine, according to media reports.

"People are getting more permissive about drinking alcohol nowadays. And merchants don't always ask for identification cards, allowing minors to purchase alcoholic drinks," said Otto, who teaches urban sociology at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta.

He said that many people were also buying illegally imported liquor, where tax is not paid on the bottles.

Jakarta government spokesman Cucu Ahmad Kurnia said this was one reason alcohol was so widely available. While the central government has imposed a high punitive tax on it, smuggling means that even warungs, or family-owned restaurants, can secretly sell alcoholic drinks. Some of these are known to be fake products.

"This is not easy to monitor, but we are sure police always try to get rid of these. We support them," Cucu told The Straits Times. "What we can do, to help ease this problem of higher consumption and also drunk driving, is to make sure merchants ask everyone for their ID cards," he said.

Asean drinkers

Per capita consumption of alcohol, among drinkers in 2005.

• Malaysia: 30.3 liters
• Thailand: 23.9 liters
• Laos: 17.2 liters
• Philippines: 7 liters
• Indonesia: 16.5 liters
• Vietnam: 15.6 liters
• Myanmar: 7.2 liters
• Singapore: 3.06 liters
• Brunei: no info available
• Cambodia: no info available

Source: World Health Organization