Five entertainment spots, hotel closed for violations
JAKARTA (JP): Ignoring a governor's circular on the business hours for all entertainment spots here during the festive seasons, has led to four games halls, a discotheque and a hotel being temporarily sealed off by the city public order office, an official said.
Tongam Tambunan, a senior official of the office, said on Sunday that the six places were closed last week, most of them on Christmas Day.
The four game halls included two at the Citra Garden housing complex in West Jakarta, one on Jl. Hayam Wuruk, also in West Jakarta, and the other in the Teluk Gong area in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, he said.
The official said he could not remember the names of three of the places apart from the Flamingo games hall on Jl. Hayam Wuruk.
The other two night spots were the Jalan-Jalan cafe, which is also used as a discotheque, at the Menara Imperium building on Jl. Rasuna Said, South Jakarta and a cheap hotel near the Tanah Abang railway station in Central Jakarta, Tongam said.
"All these places are strictly prohibited from operating until further notice," he said.
According to Tongam, Governor Sutiyoso met owners of the entertainment spots in the city on Nov. 26 and verbally instructed them to follow the rules set out in a circular issued later by Sutiyoso on the business hours of such places during Ramadhan.
The circular No. 51/1998 signed by the governor and issued on Dec. 18 stated that all entertainment spots in the city are allowed to open during the festive seasons, including Christmas and the Ramadhan fasting month, but under limited operating hours.
Nightclubs and discotheques are allowed to operate from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., steam baths and massage parlors and the like from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., live music or live traditional art performance halls, bars, pubs, coffee shops and clubs for four hours beginning from 8 p.m.
All nightclubs, discotheques, massage parlors, steam baths, bars, pubs, coffee shops and karaoke halls are however obliged to stop operations one day before and on the first day of Ramadhan, on Christmas Day and one day prior to, during and after Idul Fitri.
But the Jalan-Jalan cafe discotheque, for example, kept on running on Christmas Day, Tongam said.
"So, we have to temporarily close it," he added.
None of the cafe's discotheque public relations department could be reached for comment on Sunday.
Commenting about the closure of the cheap hotel in the crowded Tanah Abang area, Tongam only said the hotel was sealed off some time last week as "it's filled with customers visiting prostitutes".
Like in many previous years, a large number of owners of the entertainment spots never intended to obey the governor's circular or respect public pressure which sometimes ends in a fray.
A discotheque on Jl. R.E. Martadhinata in North Jakarta, for instance, was overrun by dozens of local residents in the wee hours of Sunday. The people strongly asked the spot's owner to halt operation during the ongoing Muslim holy month of Ramadhan.
According to Tongam, the city public order office could not meet the people's demands as the governor's circular allows such places to open from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.
When asked to comment on the preliminary closures of the six spots, city councilor Saud Rachman said such punishment alone was not enough.
"Such punishment won't bother them, especially owners of the gambling dens and prostitution parlors, at all.
Strict measures, such as revoking their licenses and dragging the operators to court, must be applied," he said. (ylt)