​Members of the Jakarta City Council wants to shut down ALL of the capital’s nightclubs

Many people would say that one of the best things about Jakarta is the nightlife – it comes as a surprise to some that the Indonesian capital has some of the best and wildest nightclubs in all of Asia. But that may soon come to an end, if certain members of Jakarta’s City Council get their wish to force nightclubs and other nightspots to close at midnight – or shut down entirely.

The chairman of the City Council, Prasetio Edi Marsudi, said that diskoteks (which people over the age of 45 still call nightclubs here) are a major cause of crime and drug use and therefore they should be even more tightly regulated or completely shut down.

“As an entrepreneur, I know how they exploit nightclubs in the area of ​​Central and West Jakarta. There are a lot that, to this day, are still places of drug use,” Prasetio said at a City Council meeting last Friday, as quoted by Kompas.

Prasetio therefore is pushing the idea that all nightclubs be forced to close down at midnight. He said that diskoteks are actually supposed to close at 2am, but that many places cheat the regulations and stay open later.

“If it’s like that, please be aware that, if neccesary, all diskoteks will be closed.”

The Chairman of the Hanura faction of the City Council, Mohamad “Ongen” Sangaji, agreed with Prasetio that nightclubs are often used for drug trafficking.

“So, in my opinion, diskoteks should all be closed,” Ongen said.

Today, City Council Vice Chairman Mohamad Taufik said the amount of tax and licensing revenue brought in by nightclubs was small and so he too was in favor of shutting them all down.

“The revenue from nightclubs is not too big. I’m happy if the governor would shut places like that or places that smell of drugs or adult entertainment. Just shut them down,” he said today as quoted by Vivanews.

Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama is known for being tough on nightclubs where drugs are being sold, something proven when he shut down the infamous Stadium nightclub last year and then prevented it from reopening again this year under a new name.

But while he has repeatedly said he would shut down any club where drugs were found being sold more than once, Ahok also said shutting that all nightclubs down or forcing them to close early is unnecessary and would go against the city’s existing regulations.

“So please explain, why do you want to shut them down? Because we have already given them permission, right? If they are found allowing drugs on the premises twice, I’ll shut them down. But we want to evaluate diskoteks based on the existing tourism regulation,” Ahok said  as quoted by Wartakota.

Sure, drugs are bad, but at the vast majority of nightclubs in Jakarta the only drugs on the menu are alcohol based (which are, thankfully, still legal). Hopefully this is just another instance of idiot politicians trying to pander to conservative voters with a proposal that won’t go anywhere. There’s also a lot of powerful (and scary) parties heavily invested in the nightlife industry who would obviously fight any such regulations tooth and nail.

But still, the idea of a Jakarta without any nightlife, just endless days of macet, is an incredibly depressing thought.



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