Authorities stick to their guns over red-light district
Authorities stick to their guns over red-light district
JAKARTA (JP): The city administration will turn the 10.4-
hectare Kramat Tunggak red-light district into a residential area
if brothel owners, who own half of the land, fail to reach an
agreement with business investors wishing to develop a shopping
complex in the area, an official said on Friday.
Waluyo, head of the prostitution rehabilitation section of the
city's social agency, told The Jakarta Post that if the area was
rezoned, prostitution would be strictly prohibited in the area,
half of which is owned by the city administration.
"The site would be set up as an ordinary residential site. All
the gates would be opened," he said.
The owners of 221 brothels in the country's oldest official
red-light district, located near Tanjung Priok port in North
Jakarta, earlier were offered compensation in the form of cash or
building space for the planned shopping complex.
"Now, it totally depends on the brothel owners to decide
(between the two options)."
"One thing that they should know for sure is that this
(prostitution) complex will be closed starting from Dec. 31 this
year. No bargaining," Waluyo said.
Most brothel owners have not accepted the compensation,
instead asking for land on which to relocate their businesses.
Rio, one of the brothel owners, said he and his colleagues
strongly objected to the planned shopping complex and the offered
compensation for their land.
"Instead, the government has to find a possible area for the
relocation of our businesses if they insist on closing this
place," he told the Post.
Waluyo insisted the red-light district would not be relocated.
"This is the city's principal policy. Kramat Tunggak has to be
closed because the site is surrounded by many ordinary
residential areas," he said.
According to Waluyo, the city administration wanted the some
1,600 Kramat Tunggak sex workers and brothel owners to shut down
their trade and open new businesses which would be accepted by
the public.
Vocational training
The prostitutes, for example, have been given free vocational
training, including sewing, cooking and hair dressing, in the
hope they could enter new, more respectable businesses.
So far, a group of 640 sex workers have completed the
vocational training and half of them will be sent to their
respective hometowns in West and Central Java.
When asked to comment on the planned closure of the complex,
most of the prostitutes said they had no choice but agree to
follow the city's rules.
"Probably, I will go back to my hometown of Sukabumi (West
Java), marry my boyfriend and work at a beauty parlor there," one
of the prostitutes, Lilie, told the Post.
Her colleague Harti said she would look for another job in
Jakarta.
"My friend has offered me a job as a bar attendant," she said.
The authorities have offered brothel owners the opportunity to
invest in the proposed shopping complex in Kramat Tunggak, Waluyo
said.
However, most of the owners oppose the offer, continuing to
stick to their initial demand that the city provide them a new
location for their brothels.
Last August, private developer PT Nuansa Jasa Realtindo
proposed developing a shopping complex on the site.
The firm planned to begin the project with the construction of
shophouses early this year, followed by the construction of
hotels and other facilities by early 2000.
According to Waluyo, the city administration welcomed
proposals for the site from other developers.
"With or without investors, we'll close this prostitution
complex. It's already final," he added.
On Thursday, several staff members from the National Land
Board were seen registering house owners inside the complex and
measuring the size of their respective houses.
"We started doing this on Wednesday," Rachmad, an employee of
the board, said, giving no further details. (01/ind)