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)