Public order agency turns 46

Public order agency turns 46

JAKARTA (JP): One may wonder what the real job of the city public order officials is.

Not many people are well informed about the public order office. All people generally know is that the officials are seen at every demolition, raids on prostitutes, vendors and beggars or closure of entertainment centers.

Nobody seems to care that the city public order agency turned 46 years on March 3, and nobody is really aware of its problems and achievements. Many may even think that the city doesn't ever change: Prostitutes and beggars still hang around, entertainment centers still violate operation hours, there is still illegal construction, and shantytowns are still springing up.

"We need more personnel," AF. Lapian, from the public order office, said over the weekend.

"Ideally, the office should have at least 975 people to deal with the complicated problems we get in five mayoralties. At the moment we have only 655 officials who are still active and 108 who are too old to conduct their daily duty," he said.

Lapian also said that the authority of the public order officials is limited and this is caused by their unclear status. "The officials are not like policemen. We have no authority to arrest people. We were founded to safeguard the implementation of gubernatorial decrees on public order, including cleanliness," he said.

The 655 officials have to keep eye on more than 3,000 entertainment centers, such as discotheques, massage parlors and restaurants, not to mention public places such as markets and parks.

Dark story

People should not forget the report of public order officials raping a house maid last month, after the maid was mistakenly picked up in an official crackdown.

The housemaid who was picked up for having no ID card was raped by a man who had joined the operation for fun. The alleged rapist reportedly paid Rp 10,000 to one of the officials.

The case made headlines for days because the raped woman, who is not a prostitute, reported the crime to the police.

The head of the office, Kuseini Budiantoro, denied his staff's involvement in the rape, but later said two officials would be fired for being aware of the plan to rape the woman. No one has been tried or fired in connection with the rape.

What if the raped woman is a prostitute?

"It is the custom. Prostitutes serve the officials when we are caught in a crackdown," Sami (not her real name), a prostitute in Tanah Abang bus terminal, told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

Newcomers without pimps or backup usually have to pay between Rp 100,000 and Rp 300,000 in bribes for their release, or they are sent to Cipayung rehabilitation center, East Jakarta. "But after we are nabbed for the second or third time we can just offer 'services' instead of money," Sami, who has been caught three times, giggled.

She said that she has done all manner of things for the officials, including oral sex.

Wati, another prostitute confirmed her story, saying that many of the prostitutes have had to sell their valuables, such as jewelry to get out. "We've got to be prepared for everything if we want to be prostitutes in Jakarta," she said.

If this is true, a crackdown means big money -- and free sex -- for the public servants. Last year as many as 793 street prostitutes were caught in official crackdowns. (yns)