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)