Nightclub owners help police in antidrug drive
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.