Women's group calls for red-light district removal
Women's group calls for red-light district removal
JAKARTA (JP): Women's organizations are pressing the city administration to move the prostitution complex from the Kramat Tunggak area, North Jakarta.
"We want to present an official request to the House of Representatives to move the prostitution complex to an island," Titing Saptadji, the chairperson of the Women's Organizations Cooperating Body, said on Wednesday. She did not say, however, whether new social problems could be avoided should the complex be moved.
Titing said the removal of the red-light district would be a step towards curbing the spread of the prostitution network in the city, Antara reported yesterday.
"It's not possible to wipe out prostitution in the capital as long as supply and demand remain high," Titing said while providing guidance and counseling to prostitutes on Wednesday.
During the guidance and counseling program, the prostitutes are taught about, among other things, running cooperatives.
The existence of the prostitution complex in Kramat Tunggak creates an unhealthy social environment for families living close to the complex. "For the complex's organizers and pimps who don't want their own children drifting into the prostitution businesses, the complex is also no good," she said.
Kramat Tunggak red-light district is the only prostitution complex acknowledged by the city administration.
The 11.5 hectare complex was established in 1972 by the city administration as an attempt to unite all brothels around the city in one complex.
Kramat Tunggak prostitutes reportedly earn between Rp 25,000 to Rp 30,000 per hour.
City social affairs agency records indicate that abut 700 prostitutes leave the complex every year. The agency has ruled that the complex can accept no more than 500 new prostitutes per year, in an attempt to reduce prostitution.
Currently, about 1,800 prostitutes gather at the complex. The complex has a total of 2,500 rooms.
The secretary of the Women's Organizations Cooperation Body, Dani Soepandhi, said that efforts to rehabilitate the prostitutes would be futile as long as large numbers of women from other towns in Java continue to migrate to Jakarta.
"Cooperation with other women's organizations in the provinces which send women to Jakarta is necessary. Let's be frank in saying that most prostitutes in Kramat Tunggak hail from Indramayu, West Java and Jepara, Central Java," Mrs. Soepandhi said.
Meanwhile, city authorities have demolished five illegal brothel houses in the complex.
The head of the entertainment supervision agency at the city's public order office, Toha Reno, said yesterday that the five houses were built without proper documents.
"The houses are not covered by the proper permits from the North Jakarta mayoralty or the city social agency," Toha said.
"The houses must be demolished despite owners' claims that they have obtained approval from the head of the complex," he said. "The demolition order was signed by the deputy governor for government affairs," he added.
An official of the city social agency also approved of the demolition, saying that his agency had no intentions of increasing the number of rooms in the complex.
"Kramat Tunggak is also meant to function as a rehabilitation center for prostitutes. We have decided that new prostitutes must not outnumber the rehabilitated prostitutes," M. Sihombing, the head of the agency's rehabilitation department said.
In 1989, the complex began functioning as prostitute rehabilitation center, offering prostitutes courses and training.
The city administration has been tougher on illegal prostitution complexes, including the notorious Pejompongan Indah complex in Central Jakarta.
The mayoralty has ordered the brothel operators to close down their businesses, and some 30 brothel houses have been sealed off since March. Rumors said a low-cost apartment building would be built in the area. The mayoralty, however, has refused to comment. Many of the Central Jakarta complex's prostitutes have reportedly moved to Kramat Tunggak. (yns/sur)