Development starts for Islamic center

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.