Nightclub owners help police in antidrug drive

Abdul Khalik and Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Starting Friday evening, night clubs and discotheques will have special guests joining the party: police officers.

Realizing that they need all the support they can get to successfully crack down on drugs, the Jakarta Police have joined hands with nightclub owners, staff and disc jockeys to launch a new antidrug campaign.

City police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani said that his officers would kick off the campaign at the Millennium discotheque in Kota, West Jakarta, on Friday evening, and it would then be continued in other nightclubs.

After the Millennium, next on the list will be Hai-Lai in Ancol, North Jakarta, Athena in Kota, Embassy and Dragon Fly nightclubs in Central Jakarta, and Blowfish nightclub in South Jakarta.

He said that the campaign, dubbed "Fun without Drugs", was aimed at raising the awareness of nightclub-goers that they could have a fun party without having to use drugs.

"We know that large amounts of drugs circulate in nightclubs while clubbers are potential users of drugs. This is part of our effort to rid Jakarta of drugs," Firman said.

The campaign, which will require all nightclub owners and employees to wear antidrug pins, would also involve bringing celebrities on board to talk about the hazards of drugs.

Firman said that he could understand that recent intensive raids on nightclubs had scared away many customers.

"However, we must remember the danger of drugs to our society and the younger generation. We never meant to harm the nightclub business," he said.

The Association of Indonesian Entertainment Center Owners (Aspehindo) said recently that at least 40,000 workers of entertainment centers might have to be told to stay at home and could risk losing their jobs due to a significant decrease in the number of customers.

Aspehindo chairman Adrian Maelite said that recent drugs raids by the police had scared customers away.

The raids are part of a nationwide campaign ordered by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Although the owners have rejected allegations that their venues are used as centers for the distribution of drugs, Adrian said that a number of nightclub owners had decided to take part in police campaign.

"Some nightclubs are even playing slower tunes so as not to encourage people to consume drugs, which are usually associated with beat music," he told The Jakarta Post.

During the recent raids, police said that the urine samples of 140 out of 1,200 clubbers who were tested had revealed traces of drugs.

Firman said that the police would continue to monitor the nightclubs after the current campaign was over to make sure that they were free of drugs.

Meanwhile, the Indonesia Disc Jockeys Association has decided to participate in the campaign by conveying antidrug messages to clubbers as well as slowing down the tempo of the music.

"We have called on our members to make sure that clubbers are free of drugs. We have also told them to slow down the music," said Firman Tendry, the secretary-general of the association.