Council wants cafe pressured on drugs

Council wants cafe pressured on drugs

JAKARTA (JP): A city councilor has urged the city
administration to press Hard Rock Cafe management to make a
written statement of its intent to tightly control drug use among
visitors.

Djenny Suharso, a member of the City Council's commission for
the administration of security and public order, told The Jakarta
Post on Saturday that the written statement will force the cafe
management to be committed to its social responsibilities.

The statement will become the legal reason for the authorities
to punish the management in case of drug-related violations.

At last Tuesday's drugs bust, police officers confiscated more
than 150 Ecstasy pills from the cafe visitors.

The cafe management has repeatedly said that it had no
knowledge of the drug habits of visitors.

Kusaeni Budiantoro, the head of the city public order office,
said over the weekend he believed that the management had been
too kind to visitors who took drugs.

He said it was impossible for the management not to know
about visitors taking drugs like Ecstasy. "It's not difficult to
work out. If a visitor orders water or some other soft drink,
instead of something alcoholic, he or she may be on drugs. Thus
the management should be suspicious or alert," he said.

The cafe management had earlier said it fully supported the
police drug bust.

Yoris Sebastian, the cafe spokesman, said in a written
statement made available on Thursday that the cafe management
also agreed with the a deputy governor, who threatened to close
the cafe if it was found guilty in the drug case.

The Tuesday police raid was a relief for Hard Rock Cafe
management, Yoris claimed. "We will not protect visitors who use
or deal drugs," Yoris said.

He said that the cafe had been recognized as a "clean" club
for everybody. The "No-drugs" sign inside the cafe means that the
management does not condone anything related to drug abuse inside
the cafe, said Yoris. (32/05)