Unmarried couple busted in hotel

PADANG, West Sumatra: Padang public order officials busted at dawn on Tuesday four unmarried couples staying in a hotel on Jl. Damar Padang here. The couples were mostly university students in their 20s. They were taken to the local government office for failing to produce their marriage cards to the public order officials when they were busted.

The couples denied that they had violated local norms. One man claimed that he was from outside Padang and spent a night at the hotel with his fiancee because he had no relatives in the city. He was applying for a government post in Padang city when he got busted.

Meanwhile, Syafrizal, a public order official, said the couples had been reprimanded and warned that if they repeated the offense, they would be punished. -- Antara