Government firm on faulty discotheques

Government firm on faulty discotheques

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja says that the city
administration will continue to take firm action against
discotheques which violated the regulations governing
entertainment centers.

"If a discotheque is found to have breached the regulations,
including deliberately using the place for transactions involving
various banned drugs, it will be closed down for good. This is
important to protect the young generation," Surjadi said during a
meeting at City Hall on Monday.

"I don't understand why a related office closed down
discotheques one night and then allowed them to open the next
day," the governor added, apparently referring to the temporary
closure of the Tanamur discotheque and the Cafe Batavia
restaurant early last week.

That kind of action, Surjadi said, would impair the authority
and credibility of city administration.

Last week, the city public order office announced it had
closed several discotheques for violating regulations: Terminal
One, Glodok; Unicorn, Mangga Dua; Tanamur and Metropolis. The
Cafe Batavia restaurant in Kota was also closed, on April 10,
apparently because the public order office had mistakenly
believed it was a discotheque and, as such, subject to a 2:00
a.m. closing time.

The Terminal One and Unicorn discotheques were closed down on
April 7, and Tanamur on April 10. The latter was closed down
because, the authorities claimed, it had been used as a drug
dealing site, while Metropolis was shut down because it was said
to have hired foreign artists illegally.

The office permitted Tanamur and Cafe Batavia to reopen the
next day.

Head of the public order office, Kuseini Budiantoro, said
yesterday that the decision to allow Tanamur to reopen was based
on the discotheque's management's catching a group of drug
dealers and turning them in to the police.

"We have no reason to close it down permanently because it
helped the city administration catch these wanted people,"
Kuseini said.

He added that if the city closed the discotheque for good it
would make other such places afraid to report or turn in drug
dealers and other criminals to the authorities.

"And in the end the authorities will have difficulty in
getting information," Kuseini said. (yns/31)