If one takes a historical perspective on things then Tanamur is probably the most famous (or infamous) nightspot in the whole country. The place has been variously described as, the oldest disco in South-East Asia , one of the sleaziest spots on the planet, a great place to pick up women, a great place to pick up men, a multi-ethnic melting pot and the Queen of Jakarta's discos.
The word Tanamur itself is an acronym derived from Tanah Abang Timur (East Tanah Abang), that anonymous urban district near the centre of town where the club is located. However, at a deeper level, the word Tanamur is liable to prompt a glaze over the eyes and spread a nostalgic smile across the face of any male expat who's been in the country for about six or more years.
The club's heyday seemed to end around the time of the Asian financial crisis of 1998. Before this epochal event in Indonesian history, Tanamur was packed to the rafters every night with men and women of all nationalities and sexual orientations. Why was Tanamur such a draw? Who knows, perhaps its 30-year-long pedigree stood it in good stead. Certainly, it is hardly the most sophisticated venue in town, resembling, as it still does even after a recent refit, a converted warehouse decked out in neon lights. Anyway, for whatever reasons, the club came to embody the heights of Jakarta 's Suharto-era decadence.
Upon arriving, one would enter Tanamur from the little side street on which the club is located, and from then on it was every man for himself. The dance floor would be packed with local girls wearing next to nothing; horny bule expats out on the sleaze, gays and even respectable working Indonesian guys and girls, curious to see whether the wild stories they'd heard were true. Drinks were plentiful and could be ordered from either of two bars, one of which was rather cheaply decked out in Christmas tree lights attached to drinking straws.
The dance floor was surrounded by metal gantries, which enhanced the neo- industrial vibe of the place. Most nights, go-go dancers employed by the club would pace up-and-down these gantries performing erotic dances and unspeakably saucy simulations which only served to heighten the already hormonal ambience which pervaded Tanamur.
Venture upstairs to the second-floor bar and you would stumble upon an entirely different scene, for this was the unofficially designated gay section of the club. Here, men cruised for partners but also just let their hair down and enjoyed some freedom. Tanamur was nothing if not an open-minded and egalitarian place, and that was also a part of its appeal.
The music was, and still is, generally pretty decent in Tanamur. It's an eclectic mix of raunchy club tunes and disco favourites which are a vast improvement on the awful double speed Happyhard house music played at many of the big clubs uptown these days. The punters used to lap it up anyway and would dance and kiss until kicking-out time at about 4 AM .
When this witching hour came, a flood of western gentleman would leave the club accompanied by young females tottering on their high heels and wearing seemingly nothing but dental floss. At this point they would have to negotiate the hoodlums and mercenary cab drivers out the front. This was certainly one of the less salubrious points of the Tanamur experience and tempers could get a bit frayed. There was always a multitude of Preman (local Mafioso type hoodlums) in the parking lot attempting to extort every last rupiah from the hapless Western sleazer. Jakarta 's governor apparently once witnessed this chaotic tableau when he was out for his early morning jog around the area one day. He was apoplectic upon stumbling across a rabble of hookers, bules , homosexuals and taxi drivers all shouting noisily at a time when Indonesians are supposed to be saying their morning prayers. After this, the club was forced to close at 2 AM , but only for a few weeks; this was the Tanamur after all!
So that was the Tanamur experience, every night, year in, year out. But what of the place now? As previously mentioned, Tanamur's glory days seemed to peter out at around the time of the Asian financial crisis. Probably a combination of factors led to its decline. Firstly, many expats went home after the crisis, seriously undermining its customer base. Secondly, there was the security issue which came to the fore when Tanamur's adjacent sister club JJ's was raided by the FPI (Indonesian Islamic Front) a few years back. Also, rather incongruously, one of the biggest mosques in Jakarta has been built just opposite the club. The third, and perhaps most important reason for Tanamur's decline is that there are simply too many other places to go nowadays. Jakarta 's club and bar scene has mushroomed exponentially over the past few years and the new expats that have come here know little of Tanamur's hedonistic legacy of sleaze. These days, the girls and boys can be found at any number of venues such as CJ's, BATS, Tiga Puluh and Retro. Crucially, all of these places are located in secure five-star hotels, perhaps an important factor in the current climate of post-Bali bombing paranoia.
Tanamur still looks the same today as it always did but has been unfortunately largely abandoned by its core base of patrons in favour of pastures new. All that remain are a few girls who are actually paid by the club to sit there and make it look as if the place still has some life in it; and the ghosts of chickens past. It's a little sad that it should have come to this after 30 years, but such is life. Even the occasional foam parties seem to raise little interest and Tanamur's owner is now more preoccupied with his popular bar Delilah - a kind of Arabic Tanamur which caters mainly to Middle Eastern gentlemen in search of fun and frolics. Ah well, autre temps, autre mores I guess. But we'll never forget what you were, Tanamur. May you live long in all our memories
