Armed men attack Kawanua pub

Armed men attack Kawanua pub

JAKARTA (JP): Some 100 armed men in Muslim clothes, stormed
the Kawanua pub and restaurant on Jl. Abdullah Syafi'i in Tebet
district, South Jakarta, in the early hours of Sunday.

They smashed the pub's windows, chairs and tables, musical
instruments, the bar, the kitchen and toilets, causing the owner
of the building to suffer millions of rupiah in damages.

Witnesses said the pub was not operating when the group
arrived at about 11:30 p.m. on Saturday in three public
minibuses, armed with swords, wooden sticks, crowbars and axes.

"I heard that there would be a raid by civilians, which often
happens over the weekend, so I closed the pub even though
Saturday nights used to be the busiest night," the pub owner
said.

The security guards on duty that night couldn't do anything to
prevent the mob and fled to save their lives, returning when the
attackers left the building about 30 minutes later.

"We're very confused and upset because we had closed the pub
but they (the group) still raided us. What else do they want?"
said the owner, who also lives in Tebet.

She said the pub, which had operated from 8 p.m. until 2 a.m.
since late 1998, had previously been raided by people who claimed
to be members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).

During the initial attack on Oct. 4, 1999, the group had
warned the pub to close its operation and just smashed the
windows and bar, and injured one of their guests.

The owner said she had followed the FPI's demand, by closing
the pub every Thursday and Sunday afternoon, but the group
returned to attack the pub again on April 22, 2000.

The second raid was even worse and again brought damage to the
windows and bar of the venue, which is the only bar located in
the residential area of Tebet.

Several residents in the neighborhood, which has a strong FPI
presence, said that they were often disturbed by the loud music
coming from the pub.

Reza Pahlevi, an executive of the FPI, separately said on
Sunday that there was no such direct instruction from FPI
headquarters to raid the bar. However, local residents have long
observed that the pub had been used as a transaction site for
drug dealers and prostitution.

"We have warned them several times, but it seems that they
tried to play around with our warnings.

"The latest attack was the accumulation of our anger," he told
The Jakarta Post by phone. (07)