Surakarta nightspot owners want mayoralty to be consistent

Kartika Bagus C., The Jakarta Post, Surakarta

Entertainment center owners in Surakarta are to abide by the mayoralty instruction to close their businesses in the first and last week of the fasting month of Ramadhan, but have threatened to sue the mayor if any parties seek to disrupt their businesses during the second and third week of the fasting period.

The businessmen, grouped in the Association of Entertainment Center Owners of Surakarta (IPHS) stated their position at a meeting with mayoralty officials at the Sriwedari entertainment complex here on Friday.

Heni Nogogini, chairperson of IPHS, said that the businessmen would sue the mayor if the mayoralty failed to protect entertainment centers during the two-week portion of Ramadhan in which their businesses were legitimately allowed to function.

According to the mayoralty instruction, all entertainment centers must close from Nov. 15 to Nov. 22, and from Dec. 11 to Dec. 17.

The government has decided that the start of the Ramadhan fasting month will fall on Nov. 17.

Eleven IPHS members, the deputy mayor of Surakarta J. Soeprapto, and the head of the Surakarta Tourism Office Novembri Roekmi Evi were present at the meeting.

"We will abide by the (official) regulations set by the mayoralty, not by any parties outside the official circles," Heni said. "If any groups of people later force us to bow to their own ruling and disrupt our businesses during our two-week operating period, we will ask the mayoralty to compensate us," Heni said, reading from an IPHS statement.

"We will oppose any anarchic actions against us should the mayoralty fail to protect us, and thus, we will not be responsible for anything resulting from our retaliation," the statement said.

The owners' statement referred to the fact that Muslim hardliners in Surakarta had been very tough in demanding that all types of entertainment center had be closed during the fasting month.

An incident last year in which two cafes were destroyed by groups of Muslim hardliners during the fasting month in Surakarta has apparently haunted the business people.