4,800 officers deployed to watch over nightspots

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city administration is deploying 4,800 officers to enforce the gubernatorial decree on the closure of entertainment centers during the fasting month of Ramadhan.

The officers, including 4,000 public order officers and dozens of police and military officers, were sworn in by Vice Governor Fauzi Bowo during a ceremony at the National Monument park in Central Jakarta on Tuesday.

"We call on people to report any violations of the decree. But do not take the law into your own hands," Fauzi said following the ceremony.

The decree, which was issued two weeks ago, bans some entertainment centers, including discotheques, massage parlors, saunas, nightclubs and pinball parlors, from opening during the fasting month.

Other entertainment centers such as bars, singing halls and live music halls are allowed to open between 8:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. during Ramadhan.

None of the establishments are allowed to open on the first day of Ramadhan, the night of the revelation of the Koran, which falls in the middle of Ramadhan, or on the two days of Idul Fitri.

However, all entertainment spots located in star-rated hotels are allowed to operate during the fasting month.

The Entertainment Center Owners Association has filed a protest with the administration over the decree.

The association has asked the administration to allow all entertainment centers, without exception, to operate during Ramadhan from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Jakarta has some 2,887 licensed entertainment centers, 251 cinemas, 200 billiard halls, 1,228 bars and restaurants, 144 discotheques, 193 hotels, 12 night clubs, 35 cafes, 11 saunas, 263 singing halls, 221 massage parlors and 20 amusement centers.

Some 250,000 people, excluding parking attendants and street vendors, work at these centers, which contribute some Rp 40 billion in taxes to the city's coffers each month.

In the years since the downfall of authoritarian president Soeharto in 1998, Muslim militant group the Islam Defenders Front has vandalized numerous entertainment centers that remained opened during Ramadhan.

Last month, nine members of the group, including chairman Rizieq Shihab, were arrested and detained for vandalizing several entertainment centers in West Jakarta last month.