Curtain to fall on Kemang nightlife

Curtain to fall on Kemang nightlife

Text and photos by Arif Suhardiman

JAKARTA (JP): It's almost midnight on Saturday in Kemang. As
most of Jakarta is calling it a day, this district in South
Jakarta is just getting going.

Traffic is moving at a snail's pace, and music can be heard
faintly from the brightly lit but tightly shut cafes, pubs and
restaurants lining Jl. Kemang Raya and Jl. Ampera.

Expensive, shiny cars are parked outside, and the sounds of
laughter and joy can be heard from the people coming in and out
of the buildings.

It's party time. For the revelers in Kemang, the night is
still young.

Welcome to Kemang Raya, which some people unashamedly claim is
the chic-est spot in town. No other street in Jakarta boasts so
many theme restaurants and cafes.

This came about more by accident than design. Cafe and
restaurant owners follow a simple business rule: go where the
money is.

Kemang in 1980s was turned into an elite residential area,
mostly for highly paid expatriates and their families. Foreigners
want places to socialize that are not too far from their homes
because the last thing they want to do is drive home through the
almost impossible traffic.

Initially there was just one pub or cafe, and one restaurant.

But business begets business. Before long, the street was
lined with them. Kemang became one of the most popular night
spots, even for those who lived outside the district.

Now, the South Jakarta mayoralty says it's all a mistake.

Kemang is not supposed to be a commercial area.

The authorities are bent on restoring the area to its
designated function: a residential area.

After to-ing and fro-ing, the authorities have decided to
bring the curtain down on Kemang, but gradually rather than
abruptly.

The mayoralty has sealed a number of establishments -- mostly
shops -- for violating their building's permit rules.

Although all the businesses in Kemang claim to have valid
business operating licenses and therefore to be legitimate, they
are being faulted for violating the building permits -- which say
that the houses are not to be converted for commercial use.

To close them all abruptly would not only antagonize regular
patrons and destroy billions of rupiah in investment, it would
also cut the life-line of some 4,000 people who work in the
cafes, pubs and restaurants.

The mayoralty has decided to let these businesses die a
natural death, one at a time. When their commercial licenses
expire, they will not be renewed.

For the majority of the residents of Kemang life will go on
with or without the cafes.

The only difference, if the South Jakarta mayoralty has its
way, is that Kemang will slowly shed its image as a chic
district, and become a plain residential area, one that many of
the remaining indigenous Betawi people are more familiar with.