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Clerics want ban on prostitution

While Batam is looking to legalize brothels, clerics in Bangkalan in Madura, East Java, have demanded prostitution be banned

Indra Harsaputra (The Jakarta Post)
Surabaya
Sat, February 20, 2010

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Clerics want ban on prostitution

While Batam is looking to legalize brothels, clerics in Bangkalan in Madura, East Java, have demanded prostitution be banned.

Local clerics urged the provincial legislature on Friday for the passage of the draft ordinance banning prostitution and adultery.

Fakhrillah Aschall, from the Bangkalan Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), said the government should immediately issue anti-prostitution regulations due to widespread and covert prostitution in Madura following the opening of the 5,438-meter long Suramadu Bridge last year.

"Madura is known as religious place, but many cafes and lodgings offer the services of sex workers. Some of the resort areas have even been turned into places of prostitution," Fakhrillah told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

He said hundreds of clerics had given their support and stated they were ready to oversee the draft process until the anti-prostitution law was enacted.

The provincial anti-prostitution ordinance has been enforced in a number of areas in East Java.

In Blitar, the government has stated it would close three red-light districts in Selorejo, Talun and Srengat districts in July this year following the enactment of the bylaw in 2009.

Hendy Budy Yuantoro, deputy chairman of the Blitar Commission on the Prohibition of Male and Female Sex Workers, said the closures were in accordance with a controversial 2008 provincial bylaw on prostitution.

"We don't want Blitar to become a center for prostitution. We have rehabilitated sex workers and made efforts to provide them with startup capital," Hendy said Wednesday.

The ban drew protests from 300 sex workers and 50 pimps opposing the bylaw, saying the government did not provide other jobs for them.

Jombang and Pamekasan regencies also implemented anti-prostitution bylaws. In Jombang, the bylaw was approved by Regent Suyanto in 2009.

In November 2008, Surabaya Mayor Bambang Dwi Hartono tried to close the renowned Dolly area, which has been operating since 1967 and is purported to be the largest red-light district in Southeast Asia.

However, the Surabaya municipality is facing difficulty registering sex workers at Dolly, especially those engaged in covert transactions, including those online.

"I will stick to my job because I have no other way to support my children," Niken, a 30-year-old sex worker in Blitar, said.

Niken is not a native of Blitar. The junior high school graduate was forced to work in a brothel by a family member when she was 20. She is a single parent with a three-year-old and a 4-month-old child.

Public Policy Study Center legal observer Attoillah said the bylaw enforced in the three regencies should be reviewed because it discriminates against women and contains contradictory articles.

"The bylaw doesn't regulate punishments against sex transactions and prostitution through Facebook or other social networking sites that are widespread. Besides, it doesn't provide sex workers an alternative living from the state," he said.

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