Bali Tourism Board head calls for immediate closure of restaurants and bars known to sell tampered drinks. Image: Gadling.com

The death of Australian teenager, Liam Davies, who died after drinking a methanol-laced cocktail in Gili Trawangan, has reignited alcohol debates in the region, with the head of Bali Tourism Board calling for closure of restaurants and bars known to sell tampered drinks.

The 19 year-old is said to have been welcoming the new year with friends at a bar on Gili Tranwangan off the island of Lombok, The Australian reported.

He became ill on New Year’s Day and was quickly flown to Perth for treatment but died in the hospital.

Bali Tourism Board’s chief Bagus Ngurah Wijaya said the problem with tampered alcohol is that producers are making it in their backyard, which makes it difficult to control and regulate.

Hoping to prevent future deaths, Mr Wijaya said he would push for the Bali Food and Drink Administration to introduce tougher restrictions as well as push the government to pass regulations that will stop the sale of poisonous alcohol.

“Perpetrators should be put in jail,” he said.

However, Indonesia Emergency Response Service director Richard Flax said mixed fruit drinks were easy to spoil and the blame may not solely rest with the local brew arak.

"Sometimes they will monkey with what one assumes is a bottle of proprietary spirit and they will put some methanol into that or a non-clearly distilled spirit and you think you're buying what's in the bottle and in fact it's not,” he explained.

Late last year, Bali’s United Development Party listed a Bill to ban alcohol in the country in order to “safeguard the nation’s morals”.

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In other Indonesia news, the country could move forward with a law that will ban women from straddling motorbikes.

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