CAIRO, February 17, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – The mayor of the Indonesian city of Tangerang, 20 kilometers west of Jakarta, vowed on Friday, February 17, a zero-tolerance for violators of bylaws prohibiting the sale of alcoholics and prostitution.

"Three months is long enough to familiarize residents with the bylaws. Starting March 1, we will take legal action against violators," Wahidin Halim was quoted as saying by The Jakarta Post.

"We are tired of seeing drunks all over town and prostitutes on the streets, night after night."

The mayor hoped the bylaws, which came into effect in December, would help free the city from liquor and prostitution.

The bylaws, endorsed on November 21, 2005, ban the distribution and the sale of alcoholic drinks, except in three to five-star hotels and designated restaurants for on-the-spot consumption.

They also prohibit people in public places and places visible from streets from persuading or coercing -- either through words or gestures -- others into acts of prostitution.

The bylaws ban physical intimacy, hugging and or kissing between people of opposite sex in public places or places visible to the public.

Violators would be sentenced to up to three months in jail or a Rp 15 million fine.

Mayor Wahidin said a task force has been set up for the purpose of enforcing the bylaws.

Over the last period, it raided markets, confiscating thousands of alcohol bottles and pornographic VCDs.

The mayor said he has empowered heads of districts and sub-districts to enforce the bylaws.

However, activists doubt whether local authorities have the will to enforce the bylaws.

"Learning from past experience, many bylaws stirred debate before they were endorsed, but turned into paper tigers after the council passed them," Tangerang Islamic Ukuwah Forum chairman Wahyudi told The Jakarta Post.

He cited a bylaw barring pedicabs and street vendors.

"Pedicabs still operate freely on all main roads, while street vendors have never left the municipality," Wahyudi maintained.

Imron Khamami, coordinator of the Pattiro Advocacy Division, voiced similar doubts over the seriousness of local authorities in enforcing the new regulations.

Tangerang, an industrial town, is the second largest urban center in the Jabotabek region after the capital Jakarta.

It has an estimated population of 3.2 million, according to 2005 statistics.

Breaking an official silence, the Indonesian government recently vocalized opposition to the planned debut of a local edition of the raunchy magazine Playboy, admitting that its legal hands remain tied.