In Reply to: shame muslims don't drink eom posted by tris on Saturday, 8. October 2005 at 01:09 Bali Time:
Full-on fundamentalist hard-core Muslims might not drink, and most states operating under sharia law ban alcohol outright.
But most Muslims in Indonesia are pretty relaxed about the whole deal, and have a drink whenever the mood suits them.
It's kind of like smoking weed in Australia. It's illegal, but a lot of people do it and are totally open about it. And probably more people would smoke weed if the only penalty for getting caught was a disapproving look from some uptight people.
But even for the non-drinking Muslims, there's 0% alcohol Bintang. I haven't tried it, but I'm guessing you'd have to really love Allah to drink non-alcoholic beer.
Muslims in Indonesia call themselves Muslims, but at heart, most of them are as pagan as Balinese Hindus. The old traditions run deep.