Sat, 10 Apr 1999

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)