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.