Kramat Tunggak to close by Dec. 31

JAKARTA (JP): The city's long debate over when to close the Kramat Tunggak red-light district in North Jakarta came to an end on Friday when Governor Sutiyoso announced he would shut it down before New Year's Eve.

"The decision to close (the country's oldest official prostitution complex) is because its existence is no longer appropriate with the surrounding environment and the city's development," the governor stated in Decree No. 6485 dated Sept. 15.

City administration spokesman Kamaludin Santos, who released the decree to the media on Friday, did not explain why the announcement was made 18 days after Sutiyoso signed the decree.

The governor stated that the 1,600 prostitutes and 258 brothel staff residing in the 10.3-hectare complex would be gradually "rehabilitated" at a center.

He, however, did not disclose the location of the new center.

Plans to relocate the prostitution complex, founded by the city administration in the early 1970s, had been discussed intermittently since the 1980s.

Deputy Governor for Social Welfare Affairs Djailani had earlier said the administration finally decided to close down the center by the end of 1999, instead of relocating it.

The decision was opposed by nearby residents, who demanded the center be closed as soon as possible. They argued that the prostitution site had led to many divorces and some threatened to burn the complex down.

A study has shown that an average of 3,000 clients visit the complex daily.

Last month, experts and activists argued against the planned closure, saying it would only hamper efforts to monitor the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and drive virtually all commercial sex transactions onto the streets. (ind)