Cipinang residents protest presence of brothel

Cipinang residents protest presence of brothel

JAKARTA (JP): Fourteen residents from two community units in
Cipinang subdistrict, East Jakarta, complained to city councilors
that they were disturbed by the presence in the area of a 20-room
brothel fronting as a boarding house.

Five members of the City Council's Commission E on social
matters met with the delegation over the weekend to hear their
problem.

"We demand that the boarding house be shut down," Hantono, who
lives in the neighborhood of the house, told the councilors.

He said the boarding house, a shabby two-storied house located
on Jl. Persahabatan Raya 16, used to house the Bumi Ayu massage
parlor. He charged that the business had offered services other
than massage.

Hantono said the house, which has not been used as a massage
parlor since its license expired, is not only a den for
prostitutes, but also for gamblers and drunkards, and possibly
drug pushers. "You can check this out at the East Jakarta police
office," he said.

Eko, another resident, said the owner of the massage parlor
initially got the license to operate by persuading illiterate
neighbors to put their marks on letters of approval.

"Now that the license has expired, the parlor has been turned
into a boarding house. But this is just another ruse to mask the
brothel," Eko said, adding that there are about 15 women working
there as prostitutes.

Eko said the owner of the house, a man named Leo, was backed
by a lawyer, who is linked through a relative to "Suhana
Associates."

In response to the complaint, the city councilors said that
they would investigate further, prior to asking the
municipal administration for an order to shut down the boarding
house.

When asked by The Jakarta Post about the complaints, some of
the young women living at the boarding house said that it was
just gossip. They declined to comment any further and referred
all questions to Leo.

Tisna, a food vendor who sleeps at the boarding house and
oversees the parking of the vehicles for visitors, confirmed that
the house is illegally used for prostitution.

He said that the rooms are rented out at Rp 7,500 each for a
few hours. "The women can be taken out," he said.

Tika, a housewife whose home is located next to the place,
said that she is fed up with the night-long noise coming from
next door, including "the terrible music, indecent screams and
raucous laughter."

"They played dangdut music very loudly all night a few days
ago," she said.

Another neighbor, whose home is just behind the boarding
house, said that she has heard little noise since the residents
lodged a formal complaint to the owner last week.

"Probably, because the owner increased the height of the wall
by about a meter," she said.

She also said that once a used woman's tampon was thrown into
her kitchen. Tika, the housewife next door, also complained that
the garbage produced by the girls often spills into her yard.
(06/05)