Rain or shine, business as usual at Bandung bars

By Kafil Yamin

BANDUNG (JP): Night shadows fell and the heavy rain had just petered out. Barely 20 minutes later, all the executive rooms of the BIO Karaoke & Bar on Jl. Soekarno-Hatta were occupied.

It was a full house.

"You want to book? Sorry, you will have to wait until one of them leaves," a waitress told a visitor.

Join the queue -- a group of about 10 people bided time drinking beer and smoking at the bar as they waited for a room to open up.

BIO Karaoke & Bar is one of the nightspots in this West Java provincial capital doing brisk business despite -- or maybe because of -- the economic meltdown.

It is no cheap escape from the gloom. The Rp 30,000 per hour for an executive karaoke room -- with a minimum two-hour booking -- does not include additional charges for soft drinks, beer or snacks.

There is also the obligatory extra of a so-called "singing guide". She is charming company but her voice coaching skills, or lack of them, come at a fee Rp 25,000 per hour.

Two hours of warbling away to your heart's content in the executive room could dent your pocketbook to the tune of at least Rp 400,000.

A regular said he usually spent Rp 600,000 to Rp 700,000 for three hours. "Occasionally, when we're having fun with friends, Rp 2 million to Rp 2.5 million is normal."

The presumption might have been that weakening purchasing power would have the karaoke bar owners singing the blues.

In reality, exclusive entertainment spots in Bandung are packed nightly with revelers.

"It's rosy business right here, maybe because the crisis is driving people crazy," said Nadia, marketing manager of the Imperium International Hotel. "So they come here to forget it".

She said the number of patrons rose steadily in the past three months, including during the Moslem fasting month of Ramadhan.

"During Ramadhan, when people usually exhibit self-restraint in entertainment, patrons kept coming."

It was usual for people to spend Rp 1 million or more on a night's relaxation, she said.

Luis Fernandez, secretary of Studio East Music House, said most of the venue's regulars were producers of basic commodities and grocery store owners.

Kadir, a retailer in Cimahi in western Bandung, said he knew many of these businesspeople. He believed most were fishing in murky waters in their business practices.

"Some of them may be hoarders of lubricants, milk, cooking oil and other items that are not affected by the rupiah slide since they are produced at home, but they nevertheless raise prices two or threefold after hoarding them," he told The Jakarta Post.

Grocery store owners do the same, Kadir said.

"Soon after when demand is so high and prices go up, they release their stocks.

"With double and triple profits, you can go to karaoke singing halls and spend one or two million rupiah. Why not?."

But what explains the immense popularity of karaoke?

"Because karaoke is suitable for the old or men in their 40s," said a floor manager of Pasifik Klub & Karaoke. "Song selections offer nostalgic tunes that remind them of their golden days. Karaoke is also a good place for business lobbying.

"Middle-aged men would not feel comfortable in discotheques more suitable for younger people."

State employees

Billiard centers are also crammed with fun seekers, not all of whom are businesspeople.

Some are middle and low ranking government employees, whose monthly wages are about Rp 400,000 to Rp 600,000.

A three-hour stint at a billiard center can cost Rp75,000.

A government employee said he usually played 20 times a month, costing him Rp 500,000.

A waitress at the BIO billiard center said regulars included employees of the National Land Reform Agency (BPN) and the Samsat joint agency of the police, tax office and local administration.

"Some of them do gamble," the waitress said. "It can cost them hundreds of thousands of rupiah".

One gambler, a BPN employee, said it was a case of what is good for the goose is good for the gander.

"If an honorable member of the People's Consultative Assembly gambles, why can't we?" he said in reference to the recent media reports about a member detained by police at a gambling den in Jakarta.