City versus vice
City versus vice
Although Jakarta has yet to gain the reputation of being a sin
city like Bangkok and is not likely to do so within the
foreseeable future this does not mean that prostitution is not a
problem.
Certainly, the number of women involved in prostitution in the
capital is not declining. Even so, it cannot be said that our law
enforcers have been out every day waging a sincere and well
planned war against the vile practice.
It is perhaps for that reason that the public's reaction to
the raids by the police on massage parlors and a discotheque said
the be fronts for brothels in the last few days has been to spew
forth a barrage of questions.
On Tuesday night, plainclothes officers raided a massage
parlor in downtown Jakarta which they believed to be a bordello.
During the operation they arrested people, ranging from assistant
managers to a 14-year-old masseuse and a customer who were found
naked in a room together.
Earlier the same day, plainclothes officers had raided a
discotheque in the same area, which they believed was also a
brothel. They arrested a number of people which they charged with
pandering and prostitution.
The law enforcers might have had a solid investigative basis
for the raids, but judging from similar sporadic operations in
the past, we tend to believe that the raids were not a serious
part of a consistent anti-vice campaign.
This view seems to be validated by the fact a city councilor
has raised the question of why only those two places were raided,
while there are so many similar "entertainment" businesses in
town?
It is public knowledge that the so-called new massage houses
here -- some of which advertise with extra neon signs in English
"For Ladies and Gents" -- are nothing but covert brothels. In
their effort to cover up their real business, many of the newer
parlors call their service "traditional massage" to compete with
the existing ones, which offer "massage and steam-baths", but do
not have the appropriate facilities.
Law enforcers have occasionally targeted hotels suspected of
allowing prostitutes to use their rooms in the past. However, the
off-again-and-on-again operations, mostly sneered at by the
public, had been halted for a long time before the recent raids.
Now the law-enforcers have introduced another reason for
snuffing out the vice: to prevent the growth of organized crime
which could spread terror here.
Even with what looks like a more concerted effort than ever on
the part of the police, it seems unlikely that the fronts for
prostitution will be eliminated quickly or easily. Especially not
with the city administration continuing to issue licenses for the
so-called massage business, while trumpeting the need to
eradicate brothels.
Words and deeds must go hand in hand. Thus far city policy has
been inconsistently principled and consistently ineffective.