Nightspot workers rally to keep their doors open

Nightspot workers rally to keep their doors open

JAKARTA (JP): Some 4,000 nightspots operators and their
employees staged a counter protest at City Hall on Tuesday
following a rally a day earlier at the same place which strongly
called for the closure of the businesses.

Unlike the previous protesters who were attired in uniforms
and armed with long wooden sticks and occupied the building for
almost nine hours from 5 a.m., participants of Tuesday's rally
voiced their demands in a peaceful way at the City Hall compound
by carrying banners and submitting their wishes to Governor
Sutiyoso and other officials.

The nightlife workers and their bosses asked the Jakarta
authorities to allow them to work during the ongoing Ramadhan
holy month.

"There are some 300,000 people working in or related to the
nightspot sector," the chairman of the Indonesian Association of
Entertainment Centers (Aspehindo), Affendi Sastra, said, citing
parking attendants, street vendors and taxi drivers as those
related to the sector.

During the meeting with the officials, Affendi also wanted the
security authorities in the capital to help protect their
businesses from mushrooming threats from certain groups.

A day earlier, activists of the Defenders of Islam Front (FPI)
broke into City Hall with a similar number of personnel and
blocked the entrance of the building in a measure to press the
governor to close all nightspots.

Their move, which began by performing the subuh (predawn)
prayer at the building, totally paralyzed the city
administration's activities for the entire day.

It, however, remained unclear why the security authorities did
not take stiff measures against the occupation of such a
government building.

In a statement, FPI implicitly stated that they might have to
resort to physical action if Governor Sutiyoso refused to close
down all nightspots in the capital soon.

"Our members' emotions might get out of control, resulting in
the destruction and burning of such places," it warned.

Tuesday's rally by the nightspot workers and businessmen began
at 9 a.m. and lasted for three hours, before it dispersed
peacefully. The protesters then marched to the nearby city
council's building.

Promise

During the meeting with the protesters, Sutiyoso reminded them
of his position as governor in which he had to stand
proportionally among all city residents and take into account all
aspirations.

"All parties must also respect the Ramadhan fasting month,"
the governor told the protesters.

He also reiterated his promise to impose strict sanctions
against any nightspots that were red-handedly found breaking his
instructions on the limitation of the tolerable operating time
during the Muslim holy month.

During the meeting with the councilors, the workers and owners
of the entertainment places, such as discotheques, pubs, massage
parlors and karaoke clubs, received support from the officials.

The councilors supported their right to work at such places as
long as they did not breach any of the existing regulations.

"They have to support their families by working at such
places," said deputy speaker Tarmidi.

"Beside, we all need entertainment once in a while. We go to a
restaurant or a karaoke club to relax," Tarmidi, from the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction,
added.

Councilor Ahmad Heryawan of the Justice Party (PK) faction
admitted that the public still had a lack of vision about the
terms 'entertainment' and 'vice activities.'

"Some people consider a discotheque as merely an entertainment
spot, wile some others see them as places of 'vice' activities."

An official of the city tourism agency, R. Suparlan, revealed
that the city was currently home to a total of 1,366 amusement
centers, including 235 movie theaters, 139 discotheques, 151
karaoke clubs, eight night clubs, 10 saunas, 224 live music
venues and 196 massage parlors.

"The number is slightly lower from last year's figure of 1,495
centers. Most of them at the time were closed down because of the
prolonged monetary crisis," Suparlan said.

Data from the city revenue agency revealed that until
November, contributions from the entertainment sector reached
about Rp 30 billion (US$4.3 million).

For the fiscal year 1998/1999, the entertainment sector
contributed some Rp 40 billion or 3.29 percent of total city
revenue and contributions in the year 1997/1998 were some Rp 46.2
billion, or 2.5 percent of the revenue. (05)