Demolition of Kalijodo red-light area postponed

Demolition of Kalijodo red-light area postponed

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city administration, abruptly postponed on Wednesday the
demolition of the remaining 400 buildings in the notorious
Kalijodo brothel and gambling complex in North Jakarta. The
reprieve was believed to have been caused by pressure from
powerful vested interests.

A local official, who asked for anonymity, told The Jakarta
Post that as agreed on Tuesday, the Public Order office would
conduct further demolition of the remaining buildings in
Kalijodo. However, due to mounting pressure from some powerful
opponents of the plan, the demolition was canceled.

"I can't tell you who that pressure came from, but we
definitely have to postpone the demolition for an unspecified
period of time, the mayoralty was later instructed to register
all the building owners for compensation," he said.

After the recent brawl between gangsters in the area, which
left hundreds of houses burned, the city administration had
planned to build low-cost apartments for local people there.

A Public Order officer, Agus, added that the plan to demolish
Kalijodo was canceled suddenly on Wednesday morning.

"We were told on Tuesday evening by Tonni (the head of the
Public Order office) that we will face serious violence on
Wednesday, if we go to Kalijodo to serve eviction notices. But
this morning the plan suddenly changed, we were then ordered to
go demolish the illegal shanties along the West Flood Canal which
we have already done five times," said Agus.

Agus added that the Kalijodo postponement had caused he and
his colleagues to lose their morale and fighting spirit, because
they did not feel good about evicting poor people along the canal
again.

Contacted separately, the head of the North Jakarta Public
Order office, Tonni Boediono, denied that the Kalijodo
postponement was caused by pressure. On Tuesday morning, Tonni
boldly pledged to demolish all the buildings and shut down
Kalijodo completely on Wednesday.

The Deputy Mayor of North Jakarta, Pinondang Simanjuntak, who
was appointed as operational coordinator for the Kalijodo
eviction also denied that there was any pressure.

Earlier Tonni explained that he was instructed to shut down
the 30-year-old brothel and gambling complex by demolishing all
the buildings.

However, Simanjuntak contradicted Tonni's explanation, saying
that the demolition was only a part of efforts to normalize the
function of West Flood Canal.

On Monday and Tuesday, the Public Order officers managed to
demolish some 180 buildings in the area. The remaining 400 were
scheduled to be demolished on Wednesday.

The closure of Kalijodo will bring another problem to the city
as at least 5,000 local people, including hoodlums and sex
workers, rely on the place for their source of income, and now
must find other areas in the city to ply their trade.

Moreover, the place was known also as a source of income for
the local police, the military and city administration officials
who have reportedly been involved for 30 years in nurturing the
place.

According to the subdistrict chief of Pejagalan, W.Budiyono,
who oversees Kalijodo, the money generated could reach Rp 2
billion per night.