The beginning of Ramadhan is only one week away and most Muslims traditionally welcome it with great pleasure. However, for many Jakartans, especially those working in cafes, night clubs and entertainment centers, the coming of the fasting month can mean fear, chaos and the loss of income.

Owners of many nightspots expect the beginning of Ramadhan to be blighted with violence, a time when groups waving religious banners raid their premises and demand all be shut down.

These groups, taking the law into their own hands, vandalize these establishments, causing them to close and leaving the owners and workers helpless.

These illegal acts are repeated every year and the authorities are for some reason unable to stop the violence. Will this year be any different?

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso has asked the police to act quickly and sternly to stop any attacks on entertainment centers. Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Adang Firman, meanwhile, threatens to deal harshly with those violating the law.

According to Sutiyoso, a 2004 government decree on tourism, clearly rules on the operational hours of entertainment centers – cafes, restaurants, bars, pool and karaoke halls and massage parlors. The decree also prohibits all these places from operating a day before Ramadhan starts and during the Idul Fitri and Idul Adha holidays.

Cafes, pool and karaoke halls and bars will probably be allowed to operate only between 8:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. during the fasting month. These regulations do not apply to similar entertainment centers run by star-rated hotels.

Sutiyoso emphasized that attacks on any of these establishments were against the law but stopped short of saying the city would do anything to stop it: "The city administration has no authority to take action against the radical groups. It is the police that must handle that," he said.

Sutiyoso's statements and Adang Firman's promise to take stern actions against the violators sound comforting. The ball, it seems, is in the police's court.

One hopes these promises will be honored. It would be extremely unfortunate if there were a repeat of past incidents when the police stood idly by and watched radicals smash up nightclubs and bars, leaving the employees and owners helpless.

Hopefully the nightclub owners have made preparations against worst-case scenarios and that they have followed the law by ensuring their workers are compensated for any periods of unemployment during the fasting month.

It is also worth noting that Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo has anticipated trouble by meeting with the radicals concerned and discussing the implementation of the decree. Fauzi said the meetings would become a forum where everybody would hopefully reach a similar interpretation of the regulations. It is hoped, therefore, that the fasting month will begin with peace and tranquility, instead of violence and brutality.

Still, there are questions that linger. Why do the groups always target nightclubs and entertainment centers in their endeavors to "uphold the purity of Ramadhan". And why do they prefer violence to a peaceful approach?

Closing nightspots could also be interpreted as a prohibition on prostitution, and the consumption of alcoholic drinks, which are forbidden by Islam. But if these radical groups are so concerned about these vices, why do they take action only in Ramadhan. Could there be other motives at play apart from religion?

According to our Constitution, all citizens in this country have the right to work and prosper without fear of layoffs, intimidation or violence. Could the gubernatorial decree, which closes nightspots during Ramadhan, contradict the Constitution?

If their main concern is to clean densely populated Jakarta from prostitution and alcohol consumption, shouldn't the authorities properly enforce the existing ban on the former, and set about canvassing the public for the support for the latter?

One could also ask, if the sale of alcohol is so bad, why is it that it is only "banned" during the fasting month? And what about prostitution, normally practiced so openly in certain areas of the city.

It is time for the city to properly protect those most at risk during the holy month, to ensure that it is celebrated in a civilized and peaceful way.