The Controversy between the Indonesian Government Policy and Manggarai’s Culture Value About “Sopi” Liquor

Abstract

Sopi is the local name of a liquor that results by evaporating liquid palm sugar of Lontar trees produced by the community in East Nusa Tenggara by inheritance. Sopi liquor comes from the Dutch word zoopje, meaning liquid alcohol. The purpose of this study is to analyze the controversy between the government’s policy on controlling and supervising Sopi beverages as liquor with the indigenous people’s custom in producing and consuming Sopi as a custom-made beverage or liquor in Manggarai’s community culture (East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia). This research uses a qualitative approach with the descriptive analysis method. In this study, several theories of health and culture in health communications were used. Excessive alcohol consumption causes severe liver inflammatory damage; to prevent this, the Indonesian government has issued control and supervision policy on liquor products, but not effectively applied to Sopi traditional liquor producers in Manggarai. Sopi liquor has cultural, magical, economic, and social kinship values in the life of the Manggaraian people inherited from generation to generation.