Prostitutes want trade union

Prostitutes want trade union

JAKARTA (JP): The government is upset about the planned
establishment of a trade union for some 200 prostitutes in the
Silir red-light district in Surakarta, Central Java.

"The plan is irritating," said Director General of Tourism
Andi Mappi Sammeng on Monday. He pointed out that prostitution
has never been part of the country's tourist industry as some
people have claimed.

"Indonesia is developing its tourist industry from its natural
attractiveness and its cultures, not prostitution," he told
reporters.

The press recently reported a plan to establish a local unit
of the All-Indonesian Workers Union Federation by the prostitutes
working in the Silir district.

Chairman of the union's Central Java chapter Tambah Sudjio had
supported the plan, saying that prostitution is part of the
country's tourist industry and that, just like workers in other
sectors, the prostitutes deserve union protection.

Sudjio has said the Silir red-light district was "established"
in 1961 by the provincial administration as a way to confine
prostitution within a limited area, and is currently overseen by
the local office of the Ministry of Social Services.

"The place is legal, which is all the more reason for the
establishment of a union," Sudjio was quoted by Kompas as saying.

"With the union, the rights of the workers will be respected,"
he said. "The union will arm these tourism workers against abuse
by their employers, and will improve their welfare and sense of
security."

Andi strongly opposed the call, especially if the unit is to
be established in the name of tourism. "Give me any verification
for the claims that the government develops tourism by promoting
prostitution," he said.

It is public knowledge, however, that many tourist resorts and
facilities such as hotels, karaoke lounges, discotheques, bars
and massage parlors in many cities in Indonesia offer sex-related
entertainment to domestic and foreign visitors. (icn)