Agency defends hotels, blames promiscuous guests

JAKARTA (JP): A city tourism agency yesterday defended hotels in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, the focus of three recent rape allegations, blaming hotel guests for abusing the hotels' simple regulations.

The head of the agency's supervisory department, Suparlan, said yesterday that most of the hotels fail to ask guests for their ID cards because of financial reasons, as the hotels' occupancy rates are mostly very low.

"Most of them are small hotels, which are run by small-scale businessmen," Suparlan said.

Guests who preferred to use the rooms on hourly basis took advantage of such conditions, he said.

"The real problem is that the guests are abusing the hotels' simple requirement by renting the rooms for less than six hours, although they pay the daily rate," he said.

"The managements cannot stop guests from paying the daily rent and leaving two hours later," he added.

The rate of the hotels in Tanah Abang is Rp 15,000 (US$6.5) per night. The average hourly rent is only Rp 3,000.

He said most of the hotels have found it difficult to finance operational costs and pay employees. "Things will get worse for the hotel owners if they stick to the strict regulations in receiving guests," Suparlan said.

Observers say that most of the city's small hotels are notorious for renting their rooms for short periods to couples who wish to have sex.

"The hotels in Tanah Abang have made headlines after three rapes were reported to have taken place at three hotels in the last two weeks," said a police officer, who asked not to be identified.

The first rape reportedly took place at Hotel Sudi Mampir when a 14-year-old school girl was allegedly raped by a physical- education teacher and a police corporal on May 10. Police have strongly denied the rape.

The second rape involved a shop attendant. Reports said she was raped by a man believed to be a psychic on May 17 at Hotel Djati.

The latest rape case reportedly took place on May 20, when a man allegedly forced a maid to have sex with him at Hotel Jawa Sumatra, before stealing the victim's handbag and necklace.

In response, the police conducted a crackdown on six hotels in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, netting 95 couples.

Suparlan said that the agency has frequently told the hotel owners not to rent rooms hourly because it is against regulations.

"The agency usually summons hotel owners when they violate the regulations. Closing down the hotels is the last step," Suparlan said.

He did not reveal the number of hotels which had been closed down or warned for such violations. (yns)