A

legislator for Muslim-based National Awakening Party (PKB), Riki Solihin, has proposed collecting tax from the brothel industry.

Riki suggested a 10 percent tax be collected from every prostitution transaction in Batam.

He told The Jakarta Post on Monday that sexual transactions at the city’s prostitution hub of Sinta yielded about Rp 180 million (US$19,000) a day.

“If the municipal administration collects 10 percent in tax from transactions, there will be an additional income of Rp 6.4 billion a year,” said Riki, also chairman of the association of the pesantren (Islamic boarding school) alumni in Riau.

He added that there were about 40 bars operating in Sintai, each employing at least 30 commercial sex workers.

Each sex worker, he said, could serve at least three customers with the lowest fee of Rp 150,000 per service.

He also said that collecting tax from prostitution was not against the law.

Moreover, he said, it had been a public secret that irresponsible security apparatus in the region had been illegally collecting levies from prostitution activities.

“There are many who are against [collecting taxes from prostitution], but there are also some who support it. We are optimistic our proposal would be accommodated in the bylaw draft on retribution,” Riki said.

Prostitution activities, according to Riki, have not been considered in the municipality.

“It’s time they contributed to the region by paying taxes for sexual transactions,” he said.

Hendriyanto, secretary-general of Riau’s PKB, said that prostitution fees were not included in the party’s policy yet.

“In the spirit of democracy, Riki has the freedom to voice his opinion. But he does not voice PKB’s,” he said.

Separately, chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council’s (MUI) Riau Islands provincial chapter Azhari Abbas said that money generated from haram activity was also haram.

“We don’t want Batam to be involved in using haram money. We are strongly against the plan and will soon issue an edict regarding the matter,” Azhari said.

He also expressed regret that the proposal had come from a political party, whose majority constituents are Muslim.

“It should help uphold Islamic law,” he said.

Meanwhile, head of Batam’s public relation division, Yusfa Hendri, said that such proposal was legal in the era of democracy.

“It’s only a proposal. Whether it is approved will depend on the municipal legislature’s decision,” he said.

Yusfa, however, admitted that Batam had limited income sources and therefore revenue optimization was needed in all sectors.

“Let’s wait for the legislative council’s decision,” he said.