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The case of the great nightclub humbug…
...where under 21s can’t enter for now – but, wait and see they will..
By Natasha Fernandopulle and Asif Fuard
Nightclub owners are certainly going divine – after the Johansson murder. They are stopping underage persons from entering bars. 21 is the limit, they say – snubbing the rich kids pronto..

Is the trend going to last??
Not by what the Excise Commissioner says.
Says he “folks under 21 can enter bars – but they just can’t drink.’’
What does that mean??
That the waiters will check an I. D card, each time a young fella orders a drink?? Highly unlikely.
But let’s look at the law.

The Excise Ordinance 32.2 states, “In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision, the minister may make rules”, which means the power of making laws have been delegated to the relevant minister, under whom the Department comes under.

The Excise Commissioner has come up with the 21 year ceiling for admission to a bar – which the bar owners have suddenly and curiously made their 11th Commandment after the Johansson incident. In spite of all this, it must be noted that this regulation has not been gazetted in Parliament to be passed into legislation.

What does that mean?? The law is arbitrary?
“Anyone can go to court and challenge the law – it’s just that nobody has done so yet.’

And what does that in turn mean?? It means all of this is just a knee jerk reaction – and that this is just a case of cosmetic damage control – until the people forget about the Johansson murder, and bars crawl back to their usual practice of serving alcohol to any pub crawler, irrespective of age. Consider this: Bars having to close their counters by 11pm, was an Excise regulation, but was not implemented by the Excise Dept. until very recently. Making the legal age for drinking 21, questions the legality of this new Regulation, as it cannot be found in the Excise Act .

The same goes for the issue of closing bars at 11p.m. It’s also forgotten that the solution is not about closing down clubs and pubs but more so about restricting the unlawful activities that occur in these places. Because it is these illegal activities, which lead to crime and possibly murder, in the first place.

After Yvonne Johansson’s killing frequent raids have been conducted by the police in Colombo’s popular nightclubs. This may have caused disappointment to those who frequent night-spots but it has not resulted in stopping the unlawful activities that take place – such as underage drinking and drug abuse/peddling.

Club owners should take the responsibility of upholding the laws of the land as they take no blame for any criminal activity that occurs in these premises.
But do they??? The emphasis on raiding popular nightspots in the metropolis and banning youth entering them has resulted in those smaller karaoke clubs mushrooming --attracting the youth as they would find it easier to go to those smaller karaoke clubs that are at the moment out of the law enforcement radar. In other words, the authorities are making a big show of enforcing the laws, but the mischief just gets transported or transferred elsewhere.

These night clubs/pubs etc have the necessary permits and licences. So sealing them is not going to change anything if the nightclubs offer their premises for alternatives like having private parties, as most karaoke bars do.
At private parties, the Excise laws regarding the 21 rule for admittance is not observed – as the nightclub owners wash their hands of policing private parties Commissioner General of Excise P. B. Ekanayake said, “earlier the law was that bars should close by 11pm though it is a law that was not implemented. But now we are monitoring the times these clubs close or otherwise we will cancel their licence.”

However, it was revealed that despite the law that closes bars by 11p.m., there are still a number of popular nightspots which do not abide by the regulations of the Excise Department, despite police raids and political pressure.

It is also learnt that Deputy Minister Mervin Silva’s son, had allegedly obstructed and assaulted a police officer at the nightclub - My Kind of Place. It should also be noted that the raid was made at 1.30 a.m., and the said minister’s son, had a bottle of alcohol in his hand.

So where has the law been enforced here? This shows that most of these nightclubs flout the law with impunity.

The law
Section 32.1 of the Excise Ordinance states that, “The Minister makes rules for purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Ordinance or other law for the time being in force relating to excise revenue;”

With all the regulations and laws in place (see main STORY) there is a rush of having to implement them but will the sudden rush actually end the problem? Hardly likely, as the system is ridden with loopholes - - and the laws are temporary.

The whole approach seems to be ‘’lets ride this thing out until the people forget.’’ In contrast, they do not allow persons to enter bars in the United States, until they are 21 years of age.

This is strictly implemented. There is no question of “they can enter -- but they cannot be served.’’ They are debarred, period. Now that’s real law. What we seem to be having is a pseudo law. As a letter writer stated in a daily newspaper last week, “what are teenagers doing ordering Long Island tea and tequilas in bars? We do not allow that sort of behaviour in the United States – so do not blame the West.’’

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