Jakarta expects tourist influx for Asian Games

Jakarta

WITH a tsunami of visitors expected to land in Jakarta this August for the next edition of the Asian Games, the city's tourism chief Hari Wibowo said that despite the Indonesian capital's lurch to the right, which has shuddered clubs, plenty remains of the city's notorious nightlife for people to enjoy.

"Nightlife is one of the city's attractions," says Mr Hari, head of the city government's destination and marketing division. "We are a tolerant city. The more the merrier."

Following local elections last year that saw hardliners win control from moderate reformers, city officials are playing down worries that a crackdown on bars and nightclubs are in the offing.

Within weeks of taking office in October, the administration of Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan closed the infamous Hotel Alexis, a seven-storey massage parlour and spa to the city's north that was widely thought …