The trouble with prostitution
After all the clamor of the past four months, the nine-month prison term handed down on Wednesday to Hartono Setyawan, the supposedly "untouchable" owner of a high-class brothel in South Jakarta, seems almost anti-climactic. The panel of judges at the South Jakarta District Court ruled that Hartono was proven guilty of collecting profit from prostitution, a crime punishable under Article 506 on pandering of the Criminal Code.
If nothing else, his blatant and inhumane exploitation of women should have brought him more than a brief encounter with imprisonment.
At least, Hartono's arrest on July 27 led off a systematic campaign against Jakarta's rising vice and crime rates. In the weeks and months that followed his arrest, reports of police raids on dens of iniquity regularly filled the pages of the city's newspapers.
In October, Jakarta's police chief, Maj. Gen. Mochammad Hindarto, told reporters the Jakarta police were determined to crush the growing number of gangsters and racketeers "whose methods of operation are similar to those used by foreign organized crime syndicates".
All this naturally added some drama to the raids. But as far as Hartono was concerned, such sinister links were never proven in court.
It is said, however, that the 42-year-old man, who was variously referred to in the newspaper reports as "the country's biggest pimp for over two decades" or "the most notorious pimp of high-class call girls", has survived for 20 years in this questionable business on the strength of his powerful "backing". Supposedly he had convenient links with powerful, well-placed people.
As the evidence supplied in court seemed to show, Hartono is essentially an independent entrepreneur, who made it to the top of his trade on the strength of his own shrewd, albeit unprincipled, business acumen. Formerly a penniless omprengan (night minibus driver), he entered the lucrative sex business in the early 1970s and prospered.
By the time he was arrested, he was the operator of a string of posh brothels in several big cities, such as Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, Denpasar and Semarang. His clientele is said to have consisted mostly of middle and upper-class Indonesians, including some high-ranking civil servants.
What Hartono's case appears to have taught us is that in his business, as in any other field of commerce, the general market forces of supply and demand are at work as well. What this implies is that, whether or not we approve of it, prostitution, a marketable vice, will persist as long as there are patrons.
Obviously, prostitution cannot be tolerated. Not only is it degrading and exploitive, it can also seriously endanger the health and wellbeing of countless members of society.
We believe it is an illusion to think that we can stamp out prostitution by such simple measures as arresting a few of the most blatant operators. Such measures, while proper, are insufficient. More persistent and comprehensive measures should be taken, including perhaps the old-fashioned method of widespread education about the dangers of unrestrained sexual behavior.
We believe there is a great deal more room for action, not only by the authorities, but by every member of society. And it seems reasonable, as well, that this action should be taken, not only against the prostitutes and their pimps, but against anyone supporting the exploitive practice, including clients.