Massage parlors, discos warned for violations

JAKARTA (JP): The West Jakarta authorities have reprimanded 22 massage parlors and discotheques, as well as a factory, for allegedly violating regulations.

The massage parlors and discotheques are accused of offering prostitutes to their customers, while the factory is charged with polluting the environment.

"Mayoralty officers have checked people's reports about the violations, and we have reprimanded them," Karsidin, head of the West Jakarta Mayoralty's Office of Security and Order, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Some people reported that the owners of the massage parlors and discotheques have abused operational business permits by operating their parlors and discos as brothels.

All massage rooms have doors that can be locked. Under the existing regulations, massage parlors are required to close their rooms with curtains only.

The delinquent massage parlors and discotheques are located on Jalan Daan Mogot, Jalan Mangga Besar, Jalan Hayam Wuruk, Jalan Pintu Besar Selatan, and in Taman Lokasari. "If they continue to violate the regulations, the authorities will not hesitate to close them down," Karsidin said.

Recently, the West Jakarta authorities demolished tens of brothels in the Kalijodo and Kampung Perancis districts.

Karsidin emphasized that the West Jakarta authorities would not go easy on entertainment sites which are being used as brothels. "There is no place for brothels in West Jakarta."

Karsidin disclosed that he had also received a report which alleges that PT Victory Laundry in Duri Kepa, West Jakarta, has polluted the environment.

The garment factory has no waste-treatment plant, as is required by the government. It simply dumps its wastes into a river without processing. The West Jakarta authorities will ask the factory to immediately set up a waste-treatment plant in its compound, Karsidin said.

Water in the river was heavily polluted and has turned blue. "It produces a very offensive smell," Tumirin, who lives near the factory, said.

He said that people living around the factory have complained about the pollution to the Kebon Jeruk District Office, as well as the West Jakarta Mayoralty. (29)