Stop sex trade in rehab program

Stop sex trade in rehab program

JAKARTA (JP): City councilors urged the administration
yesterday to forbid Kramat Tunggak sex workers from receiving
clients while taking short courses provided by the city to
prepare them for new professions after the forced closure of
their brothels.

Councilors Soeparmo and Achmad Suaidy said the women would
have to focus their attention on the three-month courses, which
would begin in October, so they could learn new skills before
entering the workforce in new professions.

Soeparmo, chairman of Commission E for social welfare, worried
that if the prostitutes were still allowed to receive clients,
the public, which had demanded the closure of the brothels, would
lose patience with the administration.

"What would the local community say if the prostitutes, who
had just listened to a religious lecture in the morning,
entertained guests in the evening?" he asked.

Suaidy, chairman of the United Development Party faction,
added: "If they can still practice their trade while attending
classes, they won't be able to fully concentrate on their
studies."

As many as 1,600 sex workers at the 27-year-old red-light
district will be required to take several three-month courses on
various skills, such as cooking, sewing, hair cutting and how to
become shop attendants.

The courses are part of a rehabilitation program that will be
held through December next year. The women will be divided in
five groups of 320 members each.

The administration plans to close down the area's brothels by
the end of 1999, following protests by local residents who are
strongly against their existence.

The 10.5-hectare area will be developed into a business
district by a joint-venture between the city and private
developer PT Nuansa Jasa Realtindo. The developers plan to build
shopping complexes, hotels, shop houses and other supporting
facilities.

Following the closure of the brothels, the sex workers will be
removed to a new rehabilitation center to be established on a
2.5-hectare plot of land in Sarang Bango village, Marunda, in
North Jakarta. (ivy)