City decides to delay Kramat Tunggak plan
JAKARTA (JP): The city administration has decided to delay its plan to relocate North Jakarta's Kramat Tunggak prostitution rehabilitation center to the Seribu Islands because thorough studies on all aspects of the relocation have yet to be completed.
Assistant Secretary for Social Welfare Soenarjudardji said yesterday the governor wants all related agencies and the North Jakarta mayoralty to assess the social impact of the relocation on Seribu islanders.
"Possible controversy, such as future public protests, must be taken into account before the relocation is carried out," he said.
"Due to those matters, it is impossible to relocate Kramat Tunggak next year, as previously planned," Soenarjudardji said. It was he who announced in May that the relocation would be next year.
He said he had no idea when the red-light district would be relocated, adding that the studies have yet to begin.
"We want to relocate it as soon as possible because Kramat Tunggak is no longer appropriate to function as both a prostitution rehabilitation center and a brothel. The complex is now united with nearby residential areas," he said.
Shock therapy
The administration intends the relocation to function as a form of shock therapy to the prostitutes. The authorities also want to reduce the number of the prostitutes in the city by relocating the complex.
Sources said the original plan was to relocate the complex to the Seribu Islands, which was said to be economically unfeasible. The second choice for the new prostitution site was Rawa Malang, also in North Jakarta. The area's residents have, however, expressed their objection to the plan and asked the administration to cancel it.
The North Jakarta mayoralty wants to convert the 11.5-hectare site at Kramat Tunggak into a commercial area once the prostitution complex is moved.
Meanwhile, researchers and advocates of HIV/AIDS awareness, including legislator Nafsiah Mboi, oppose the relocation plan. They said that tightening control of operations at Kramat Tunggak would be better than moving the prostitutes.
A total of 1,8r0 prostitutes live and work in the red-light district, which began operating in the early 1970s. The complex consists of a large number of houses, which have a total of 2,500 rooms. (yns)