Development starts for Islamic center

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso laid on Saturday the first stone of an Islamic center on a 10.9-hectare plot of land at the former Kramat Tunggak brothel complex in North Jakarta, amid an ongoing dispute between the administration and the landowners.

Witnessed by local Islamic leaders, some ambassadors from Islamic countries and hundreds of guests, Sutiyoso laid a stone in the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a grand mosque, planned to be the main part of the center.

"We hope Kramat Tunggak, which was once infamous as "black land" can be given a new image as "white land" with the development of the center," Sutiyoso said in the ceremony.

He said Kramat Tunggak, which has been known as a rehabilitation center for prostitutes for about 30 years, would be developed as an integrated Islamic center.

He said, besides the mosque, a cultural and education center, a lodging house or hotel, offices, a multi-function room and an exhibition hall would be built as part of the center.

Sutiyoso officially shut down the red-light complex, which used to be home for about 1,600 prostitutes and 260 pimps, on Dec. 8, 1999.

Most of the prostitutes returned to their hometowns, but some of them reportedly resumed operations in the street along Jl. Kramat Jaya, especially at some herbal drink stalls (locally called Warung Ginseng) near the Keramat Tunggak complex.

City administration had earlier allocated Rp 74 billion (US$8.2 million), taken from the 2001 City Budget, for the acquisition of land for the center.

But the North Jakarta Mayoralty, which acted as the center's project chairman, recently asked for an additional Rp 9 billion in the revised 2001 city budget for the clearance of 12 remaining brothels.

Sutiyoso denied on Saturday that his subordinates had stolen the Rp 9 billion for the land clearance, saying that there had been an increase in the cost of land clearance.

"I ordered the city inspector to investigate it, and no irregularities were discovered. So the public should not make accusations without evidence," he said, adding that by the end of this year, the one remaining brothel would have been dealt with and cleared.

But some city councillors found only one brothel remained when they inspected the area as all other buildings had been cleared. They doubted that all land owners in the complex had received the financial compensation that they were owed.

The remaining brothel owner, Mustopha, said that he would receive Rp 200 million in compensation, although he had heard that the mayoralty had allocated Rp 700 million for his building.

"I hope that the mayoralty will be more transparent over the compensation allocated," Mustopha told reporters after the ceremony.