The Jakarta Globe, Jun 18, 2015
Jakarta. Jakarta City Council has threatened to revoke the licenses of organizations that carry out vigilante raids on restaurants and entertainment venues during the fasting month of Ramadan.
“No mass organization is allowed to conduct a raid, it’s the state officials’ authority,” said Ratiyono, the head of Jakarta’s National Unity and Politics Agency (Kesbangpol).
The Jakarta Police have also urged all community organizations not to conduct raids for any reason, adding that only authorized officials, such as the police, are allowed to do so.
“There will be sanctions, we can revoke their license and if they commit a crime they will deal with the police — so do not cause trouble,” Ratiyono said.
Ratiyono said Kesbangpol had approached leaders from many of the city’s 300 mass organizations to notify them of the policy.
A total of will 371 entertainment businesses, mostly nightclubs and massage parlors, will be closed over the next month. Many other entertainment venues are required to adhere to shortened hours.
Businesses will be able to resume normal operations on July 18, three days after Idul Fitri celebrations, which mark the end of Ramadan.
Raids on entertainment venues by hard-line Islamic groups during Ramadan are not uncommon in Jakarta during Ramadan.
Notorious hard-line group, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), has already threatened its members will give a strong reprimand to streetside food vendors who remain open for business during daylight hours
During the 30-day holy month of Ramadan, Muslims must refrain from consuming food, drinking liquids, smoking and also engaging in sexual activities from dawn until sunset.
From the same paper,...
FPI Promise Reprimands for Food Vendors Operating During Fasting Hours
Jakarta. Indonesia’s most notorious hard-line Islamic group says its members will give a strong reprimand to streetside food vendors who remain open for business during daylight hours of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Muchsin Alatas, the chairman of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), said the organization had instructed members to confront any food stalls, locally known as warung, if they don’t close down their business as Muslims are fasting.
Muchsin added that the group would report food sellers to the authorities for the violation.
“If anyone from our group sees an open warung, report them or directly scold them. This is to remind them about moral violation, [but] not law abuse,” Muchsin told CNN Indonesia on Wednesday.
Muchsin said all warung must at least cover their facade so as not to tempt those who were fasting, if they wished to remain open during Ramadan.
Meanwhile, Religious Affair Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin and Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama have called on Muslims to not force food vendors to close during Ramadan, which starts on Thursday.
“If there are those who close their warung voluntarily, we of course respect that. But good Muslims don’t force others to give up their source of livelihood,” the minister wrote on his official Twitter account.
The Jakarta Police have also urged all community organizations not to conduct raids for any reason, adding that only authorized officials, such as the police, are allowed to do so.
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vr 19 jun 2015 - 3:39