Blind masseurs to mend image
BANDUNG (JP): At least 100 delegates from massage parlors affiliated with the Indonesian Association for the Blind (Pertuni) met here on Wednesday to restore their tarnished image, which has been associated with prostitution.
Bambang Suyono, Pertuni's secretary-general, said many people identified massage houses as camouflaged brothels, while prostitution had been widely carried out under the guise of blind masseurs' businesses.
Worse still, he admitted that some of the blind masseurs were themselves involved in the sex business behind their core activities.
He said the phenomenon was attributed to the lack of promotion of the code of ethics and professional standards formulated in the national conference of blind masseurs last November, which rejected prostitution in the business.
The Indonesian Blind Masseurs Association (Pertapi), Bambang said, "will take stern action against any breach of the code", which includes revoking the membership and license of the offender.
Last month Pertapi members registered a vote of no-confidence against their then chairman Idwin Wiluya Siral for facilitating prostitution.
Idwin was forced to step down and was dismissed after the association's executive board and honorary council found him guilty of inviting a young woman to his parlor, instead of blind employees, to serve male patients.
Bambang indicated that massage licenses previously issued by the now defunct ministry of social affairs were so lenient that many outsiders abused them for indecent purposes.
With the new standards, licenses must come from the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, based on Pertapi's recommendations.
The symposium of blind masseurs also discussed massage fees and planned to raise the rates, currently between Rp 10,000 and Rp 15,000 per patient, which were considered too low.
He said the hike in the price of basic commodities was behind the plan to increase the service rates. "Lots of the blind rely on this profession," added Bambang, without indicating his monthly earnings. (25)