Red light district shut down

Red light district shut down

JAKARTA (JP): The West and North Jakarta mayoralties are determined to close down the infamous Kalijodo red light district which is located on both sides of their common border.

The West Jakarta mayoralty has already issued a third and final order for the demolition of 35 brothels located on its side of the border.

Officials said this time there will be no reprieve and that a demolition team will be sent to the area if the order is ignored.

The North Jakarta mayoralty launched the latest crackdown against brothel owners and prostitutes last Saturday night, rounding up 172 prostitutes and scores of panderers.

Saturday's action is the latest anti-vice operation conducted by the authorities against the city's mushrooming illegal brothels. Officially, the only area where prostitution is legal is in the Kramat Tunggak red light district near the Tanjung Priok port in North Jakarta.

North Jakarta Mayor Suprawito said the authorities will seal the houses in Kalijodo that have been converted into brothels.

"They will eventually demolish the structures and owners will not receive a single cent in compensation," reported Pos Kota daily yesterday.

North Jakarta Police Chief Lt. Col. Edi Darnadi said the anti- vice operation did not end with Saturday's crackdown.

"We will follow it up and we will continue to close down any new brothel in the area," he said, adding with a note of warning: "and will arrest the men patron if they keep coming back."

Over the years Kalijodo, originally a residential area, has been turned into a red light district area. Despite repeated crackdowns against the brothels, at the urging of local residents, the area retained its notoriety with brothel owners, prostitutes and patrons returning to the area.

Many of the houses along the river banks were built on state land, owned by the agency for flood control.

He said the 172 women rounded up on Saturday night had all been sent to the Cipayung rehabilitation center while the dozens of panderers had been put under house arrest and are required to report to the police of their whereabouts.

Abdoelhamid Notowidagdo of the Jakarta Legislative Council said the authorities should prosecute the panderers, just like they did to Hartono, who was recently convicted to nine months imprisonment for pandering.(emb)