Closure of brothels 'leads to new plight'<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Closing established prostitution sites would
\nhamper efforts to monitor the spread of sexually transmitted
\ndiseases and drive virtually all commercial sex transactions onto
\nthe streets, experts and activists said Monday.<\/p>\n
Kartono Mohamad, a former head of the Indonesian Medical
\nAssociation, said \"The ability to monitor sexually transmitted
\ndiseases benefits all: the prostitutes and their families and
\nalso the clients and their families.\" Of the 706 HIV\/AIDS cases
\nreported in the country, 40 percent are women, including \"loyal
\nwives\" who got the virus from their husbands, Kartono said.<\/p>\n
Kartono was talking at a one-day discussion focusing on public
\ndemands to close government-sponsored rehabilitation sites, or
\nlokalisasi, which have allowed sex transactions to continue.<\/p>\n
Demonstrations in various cities, such as Jakarta, Klaten in
\nCentral Java and Ujung Pandang in South Sulawesi, have pressured
\ngovernment officials to close some brothels and nightspots. Red-
\nlight districts such as in Purworejo, Central Java and Pontianak,
\nWest Kalimantan have been burned down.<\/p>\n
The Association of Indonesian Moslem Women (IKWAMI) recently
\ndemanded the closure of Kramat Tunggak, North Jakarta, saying the
\nprostitution site set up by the city in the 1970s had led to many
\ncases of divorce. Local residents have also threatened to burn
\nthe complex down.<\/p>\n
Public health expert Nafsiah Mboi said closing government
\nrehabilitation sites, \"which only host about 10 percent of sex
\ntransactions\", would lead to \"100 percent of sex transactions
\nspilling onto the streets\". Should the sites be closed, the women
\nturned out would swell the ranks of the country's poor, she said.<\/p>\n
Muhammad Khoiron HS, a religious teacher based for more than
\n20 years in the red-light district of Bojong Sari in Surabaya,
\nEast Java, said he was against closing down rehabilitation sites
\ndespite the fact that they had failed to \"rehabilitate\"
\nprostitutes and pimps.<\/p>\n
\"The government programs are never followed up, including
\nsteps to provide spiritual guidance,\" the teacher said.<\/p>\n
While he acknowledged that it was difficult to find another
\njob with as high an income as prostitution, he said spiritual
\nguidance was crucial in helping to build prostitutes' self-
\nconfidence to start anew. But people with such skills rarely
\ninvolve themselves enough in the community, he said.<\/p>\n
Muhammad said he did not support demands to close
\nrehabilitation sites and red-light districts because there was no
\nguarantee of other work for the prostitutes.<\/p>\n
\"The local authorities have said they would provide the
\nnecessary costs to transport the women home, and that was it.\" In
\nresponse to such poor government-backed plans, Muhammad has
\nfounded a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) for those inside
\nand outside the prostitution business. Government closures of
\nrehabilitation sites have so far been carried out for \"merely
\npolitical\" reasons to appease public demands, he said.<\/p>\n
Ali Sadikin, Jakarta's governor in the early 1970s, said taxes
\ncollected from prostitution and gambling had gone to help fund
\nmany of the capital's roads and buildings. He argued it was only
\npractical for the government to regulate and take in revenues
\nfrom such transactions.<\/p>\n
A sex worker from Surabaya, Narti, said she and her colleagues
\nhad considered holding their own demonstration in response to the
\nheated public demands to close rehabilitation sites and red-light
\ndistricts. \"We decided not to ... If we went to the council, what
\nlaw would they refer to? There is no law on us. Do we exist?\"<\/p>\n
Narti also said that the industry took in \"millions\" of rupiah
\nincluding security guards who took in Rp 1,500 per guest.<\/p>\n
Narti and a former sex worker from Jakarta rejected charges
\nthat rehabilitation sites caused many broken marriages.<\/p>\n
\"If Kramat Tunggak was closed, who could guarantee that
\nhusbands would not go to other sites sprawled all over the city?\"
\nasked Azizah, who said she was now actively advocating health
\nawareness among sex workers.<\/p>\n
The discussion was held by Hotline Surya, a non-governmental
\norganization advocating awareness of HIV\/AIDS in East Java.<\/p>\n
The International Labor Organization recently reported that
\nthe country's sex industry generates between US$1.18 billion and
\n$3.3 billion (with the rupiah at 2,150 to the U.S. dollar), or up
\nto 2.4 percent of the country's gross national product. It also
\nestimated that 230,000 sex workers were employed in the industry.
\n(anr)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/closure-of-brothels-leads-to-new-plight-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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