Noegroho threatens to seal 'drug-infested' spots

JAKARTA (JP): City police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman warned operators of discotheques, pubs and bars that he would seal any of the businesses for an indefinite period and recommend the revocation of their operating permits should the venues also be sites of drug transactions and users.

"I will just order the sealing of those venues. I will not tolerate such things, particularly during the holy month of Ramadhan," the two-star general told an audience of at least 500 nightspot owners on Wednesday,

"Do not say that there is no drug abuse (at the venues). I, myself, led a raid on Tuesday night at the city's second most famous discotheque (Raja Mas) in downtown Kota and red-handedly caught 10 people, whose heads were already shaking wildly," Noegroho explained to businessmen, who were invited to come to his office.

Following necessary tests conducted by police doctors, six of the 10 suspects tested positive for drugs, he said.

The officer also questioned the motives of the businessmen, who always claimed no knowledge of the activities of their guests, in setting the price of bottled mineral water at extremely high prices.

"A bottle of mineral water at these venues costs nearly four times the amount of that sold outside. What for?" Noegroho questioned the visiting businessmen.

It is widely known that drinking water helps drug users from becoming dehydrated.

Regarding the fact that several religious groups and angry residents had been burning and destroying hotels and bars, which they suspected of holding prostitution, gambling or drug dens in Tangerang, Bekasi and Bogor, Noegroho said that he had "never condoned the violent acts."

"I never said that those acts were right. But, the greater Jakarta area is very explosive. Nobody knows what will happen here tomorrow. So, it's best to be prepared," he said.

Noegroho added that he had a blacklist of 46 discotheques and hotels where the most drug busts had been made this year.

The list, he said, included notorious nightspots in West Jakarta such as Kaliber, Sidney 2000, M Club, Zios, Raja Mas, Ecsotik, Stadium, Milleneum, Atlanta and Emerald.

Noegroho said that since the beginning of the year, to date 826 men and 62 women had been arrested in Jakarta in drug-related cases.

Of them, 286 are traffickers and 560 are users.

"I urge all nightspot owners to keep a vigil for drug users or dealers ... It would be better if I sealed your places up rather than having angry residents storming into the discotheques."

During the course of the dialog, one nightspot owner told Noegroho that it was not possible for owners to check each and every person for drugs.

"That is not possible. We are the owners and we cannot keep an eye on each and every person in the place," he said.

"We are not exactly happy ourselves. With people threatening us and other bars and hotels being burned, we are also scared. Those causing damage to hotels and bars call themselves Muslims. Well, we are also Muslim."

"They say their Islamic prayers and so do we. We, therefore, ask Bapak Kapolda (Noegroho) to please protect us. These people who claim to be religious cannot keep on destroying and burning nightspots."

The meeting was held following Monday's protest at City Hall by some 4,000 activists of the Defenders of Islam Front (FPI), who broke into and blocked the entrance of the building for about nine hours from 5 a.m., in a measure to press the Jakarta authorities to close all nightspots in the capital.

The following day, nightspot operators and their employees -- numbering about the same as the previous day's protesters -- also staged a protest at City Hall, demanding security authorities to help protect their businesses from mushrooming threats from certain groups.

After staging the protest on Monday, some 30 FPI members forcibly seized 1,592 bottles of liquor from a shop on Jl. Kahfi in Jagakarsa, South Jakarta, and surrendered the bottles to the South Jakarta Police precinct.

When asked to comment on FPI's move, Governor Sutiyoso said he was very disappointed with such action, sweeping the markets for alcohol and confiscating it.

"The police should arrest those people because what they've done is clearly against the law," Sutiyoso told reporters on Wednesday. (ylt/05/01)