Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Dozens of members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) demanded the City Council on Monday to pass a bylaw forbidding entertainment venues and nightspots in the capital from operating during the upcoming Islamic fasting month or Ramadhan.
They also urged the police to take action against those nightspots that remain open during the fasting month, or the FPI members would raid them.
FPI secretary-general Ahmad Shabri Lubis delivered the message in a protest in front of the City Council and City Hall in Central Jakarta.
Around 100 FPI members donning white Muslim dresses arrived on trucks and vans and staged free speech, saying that the closure of nightspots and entertainment venues during the fasting month was purely to respect Muslim customs.
Governor Sutiyoso said he would issue a decree next week regulating the operation of nightspots during the fasting month, as the city was unlikely to issue a bylaw within the remaining two weeks before the fasting month begins.
The governor warned FPI members not to "sweep" entertainment centers, as this was a crime.
The governor issues a decree each year, prohibiting entertainment venues such as discotheques and bars, as well as massage parlors, from operating during the fasting month.
Deputy chairman of Council Commission E for peoples' welfare Ahmadi Hasan Ishak echoed the governor's warning, adding that police would arrest any FPI members who raided nightspots, as "they only create another problem".
Hasan also said that a gubernatorial decree was enough for regulating the operation of entertainment venues during Ramadhan.
Councillor Abdul Azis Matnur of the Justice Party said councillors had submitted a draft bylaw on the issue last year, but no response had been forthcoming from the city administration.
During the demonstration, the FPI members also reiterated their demand for the release of their leader Habib Mohammad Rizieq, who was sentenced to seven months in prison last August by the Central Jakarta District Court for causing unrest among the community and disturbing public order.
Having already served four months, Rizieq is scheduled to be released from Salemba Penitentiary in November.
Last year, the FPI committed a string of raids, attacking bars, restaurants and billiard centers and vandalizing their property.
The group defended its actions, saying they were motivated by Islamic teachings and that nightspots were places of sin.
The FPI was disbanded in the aftermath of the Bali bombing last October, but was reformed early this year.