STDs rife among Tangerang prostitutes

STDs rife among Tangerang prostitutes

JAKARTA (JP): Womanizers beware! Most prostitutes operating in
Tangerang mayoralty are believed to have sexually transmitted
diseases, an official said.

Mayoralty spokesman Harry Mulya Zein said on Tuesday that
medical checkups on 41 prostitutes who were rounded up in a
special operation revealed that many prostitutes were diseased.

"Half of the 41 prostitutes, who were directly forced to
undergo medical checkups, have gonorrhea," Harry was quoted by
Antara as saying.

Quoting Tangerang mayoralty's health office head Nuriman
Machyudin, Harry said the 41 prostitutes were only a few of the
scores of streetwalkers, including transvestites and adolescent
girls, who were netted for loitering in hotels, major nightspots
or along major thoroughfares after 1 a.m.

The operation was conducted by officers of the local tourist
office with the help of soldiers from the Tangerang Military
District headquarters, he said.

The transvestites were netted along Jl. Merdeka, Jl. Pahlawan
and Cikokol bus terminal, while the teenagers were netted while
on dates in hotels, he said

Harry urged hotel owners not to turn their facilities into
prostitution dens by offering rooms at an hourly rate.

He threatened to call for the revocation of their business
permits if hotel owners failed to heed his appeal.

"We've received many reports from the public about how many
hotels in the city have changed into clandestine prostitution
dens. We cannot tolerate it," he reiterated.

Harry said some of nine hotels in Tangerang had registered as
hotels that offer rooms on an hourly basis.

According to a circular issued by the West Java governor,
renting hotel rooms by the hour is forbidden, he added. (jun)