Nineteen of them had by then been given training in various skills with respect to their preferences. They were each given working equipment and capital of Rp 3 million (US$333) to begin efforts to earn a new living.

Among them was Sri Anjarwati, 46, from nearby Mojokerto. She had been working as a prostitute for
five years.

She said she had started a new livelihood as a food vendor.

“I used the Rp 3 million as start-up capital and I run the business with my younger sister,” said Sri, who claimed to have fallen into the world of prostitution after she was betrayed by her husband.

Asvia, 25, said she was determined to leave the red-light life after joining the training provided by the provincial administration and receiving working capital to run an eatery.

“I will get married this month. A man is willing to accept me as I am,” Asvia told reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony held by the East Java provincial administration and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) to officially send the former sex workers home over the weekend.

They come from Sidoarjo, Malang, Blitar, Lamongan, Mojokerto, Jombang, Kediri, Jember, Pati, Jepara, Sumbawa and Surabaya.

The ceremony last week was the fifth held thus far over the past five years. Dupak Bangunsari was known as the largest red-light district in the Southeast Asian region in the 1980s, before the infamous Dolly red-light district, also in Surabaya, gained its notoriety.

Dupak once accommodated some 3,000 prostitutes and 350 pimps.

MUI’s East Java branch chairman Abdussomad Buchori said that sending home prostitutes and pimps was part of serious efforts by both the council and the provincial administration in closing down the six red-light districts in Surabaya. East Java, which was home to 47 red-light districts spread across its regencies and municipalities.

“There are now 43 districts left, as four have recently been closed down,” said Abdussomad, adding that of the four, three were in Malang and one was in Blitar.

The head of the provincial administration’s people’s welfare bureau, Indra Maulana, said that the administration was very serious about closing down all red-light districts in the region. This, he said, was because the people living nearby could not accept such behavior in their respective neighborhoods.

“We will do so by using persuasive and conducive approaches that are non-confrontational. We prioritize the role of local preachers and ulema to bring them back to the right path,” Indra said.

He said closed red-light districts would be tightly monitored in case pimps tried to re-open their businesses. “If so, they will be charged under the law on human trafficking.”

Indra also said that local people who previously benefitted by the economic spillover from prostitution businesses would also be given training to help them move forward.

East Java Governor Soekarwo had previously promised an “unlimited budget” to support any regencies or municipalities in the province pursuing programs to close prostitution districts in their respective
jurisdictions.

With the remaining prostitution areas, East Java is presently home to more 7,000 prostitutes and over 1,000 pimps. Of them, some 30 percent are operating in the provincial capital of Surabaya.

“East Java does not tolerate immoral acts, but we do not just evict them. We will give them skills and working capital,” Soekarwo said.

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