Hotels exempt from nightspot ban

Hotels exempt from nightspot ban

JAKARTA (JP): The ban against nightspots in connection with
the Idul Adha Islamic Day of Sacrifice next week will be applied
selectively, an official said on Tuesday.

Spokesman for the city administration Muhayat said the ban
would be effective from Sunday at 5 p.m. to Tuesday 6 at 10 a.m.
on all entertainment centers across the capital, except those
located inside hotels.

Entertainment centers which belong to a hotel are considered
as facilities the hotel offers to its customers, and thus are
exempted from the mandatory suspension, according to Muhayat.

According to the draft notification letter from the City
Tourism Agency proposed to the governor on Tuesday, the
nightspots specified in the letter comprise massage parlors,
saunas, discotheques, night clubs, karaoke bars, pubs and coffee
shops, pinball game and billiard centres.

Muhayat said entertainment centers belonging to hotels could
operate as usual, except for discotheques and pinball machines.

The draft letter also stipulates the need for sanctions to be
imposed on those who violate the regulation. It did not however
specify the proposed sanctions.

Head of the agency, Parlindungan Hutabarat, said earlier that
a gubernatorial decree would be issued later this week.

He called on the nightspot operators to remain calm, saying
the city authorities would guarantee their safety as well as law
and public order.

Muslims perform the Idul Adha prayers in open fields and
mosques and slaughter goats and cattle on the holiday. They
distribute the meat to the needy. (07)