Tangerang regent revokes permits of Transelindo hotel
Tangerang regent revokes permits of Transelindo hotel
JAKARTA (JP): While the government is struggling hard to lure
investors to Indonesia to restimulate the country's paralyzed
economy, the Tangerang regency administration has revoked the
operating permits of a hotel which was damaged by mobs in last
month's rioting.
Regent Agus Djunara issued the order against Hotel Transelindo
in Kadu village, Curug district, on Saturday for reasons of
public order and security.
"We asked the hotel's management to halt their planned
operations and the renovation work," administration spokeswoman
Ena Karlina said Sunday.
The revocation of the permits for the hotel, which has almost
completed a Rp 10 billion (US$690,000) refurbishment, was stated
in a letter addressed to the hotel's president, Rudy Yulianto
Halim, the regent was quoted as saying the same day.
According to Ena, the letter also said that all licenses
obtained by the hotel -- located near the Bitung gate on the
Jakarta-Merak toll road -- would be revoked because the
management had violated their terms.
She, however, refused to disclose the hotel's violations in
detail.
None of the hotel's management could be reached for comment
yesterday.
On June 17, 200 people claiming to be Kadu villagers, stormed
the Transelindo, protesting the management's plan to reopen the
hotel.
The protesters, who destroyed the hotel's security post and
pulled down its name board, objected to the hotel having a bar
and karaoke hall. They demanded the owners build a supermarket on
the site instead.
The hotel owners decided to renovate the damaged hotel even
though they had suffered losses of about Rp 2 billion in the
riot.
A similar protest against the hotel's existence and operation
occurred again on Saturday. The protesters demanded the regency
authorities convert the hotel into a supermarket or a hospital,
which would be of more use for the local people.
They said the hotel's bar and karaoke facilities would only
provoke anger and unrest.
During the mid-May violence, banks, cars, offices, shops,
hotels and supermarkets were burned and looted in Tangerang,
leaving thousands of people unemployed.
Transelindo has some 100 employees.
An executive of the hotel, Wibisono, was quoted by Antara as
saying Sunday that the Transelindo management had left the
resolution of the dispute to the local authorities, hoping that
they could provide a suitable win-win solution.
When asked whether the hotel would sue the regency
administration for issuing and then canceling the permits,
Wibisono said the management was still assessing the situation.
(bsr)