Five entertainment spots, hotel closed for violations

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)