Governor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and his deputy Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama have so far won praise for their successful clearing of illegal street vendors from the Tanah Abang market, long known as a hub for protection rackets.

The spotlight is now fixed on the adjacent Bongkaran red-light district near the Central Jakarta market, which has survived earlier closure attempts. The question is whether Jokowi and Ahok will succeed where previous administrations failed. While they are relocating street vendors to a building inside the market compound, offering attractive alternatives to the sex workers and others who feed their families with income from Bongkaran will be much harder.

 Jokowi and his controversial deputy have said they will 'study' the options, signaling caution despite public support in their negotiations with Tanah Abang leaders.

Bongkaran has been closed down several times since the 1980s and even razed by fire, but sex workers and customers keep coming back.

Central Jakarta Mayor Saefullah said he had to bow to mounting public pressure to close down Bongkaran, although he was aware sex workers may move to new locations.

'I personally agree that if sex workers are contained in one location [the business] will not disturb children. Prostitution can always be found in big cities. However, for now we will stick to our plan to close Bongkaran,' he said.

 Criminologist Adrianus Meliala said prostitution near the railways in Bongkaran had been around for years and was supported by thugs. Its closure, he said, should be followed by a comprehensive redesign of the environment, including getting rid of unused train carriages and installing bright street lighting.

'Closing down Bongkaran is enough for now, considering its poor condition. Hopefully, the city [creates] a roadmap on how to turn what they consider garbage into a respectable area,' he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Adrianus said a large capital like Jakarta eventually needed to legalize a sex trade area to enable the administration to control residents' health and minimize crimes.

 In the 1970s, then governor Ali Sadikin legalized Kramat Tunggak as a sex trade area in North Jakarta. The 10-hectare area was closed in 1999 and is now the location of the Jakarta Islamic Center, built under former governor Sutiyoso.

Many sex workers, however, have already grouped themselves into localized areas, such as Bongkaran in Central Jakarta, Kalijodo in West Jakarta and Boker in East Jakarta.

 'It is not right to prohibit everything considered haram [forbidden under Islam]. Prostitution is about supply and demand, so we need a way out,' Adrianus said. He also speculated that the pressure to close down Bongkaran now might stem from Jokowi's possible presidential ambitions in the 2014 national election.

In East Java, Surabaya mayor Tri Rismaharini has insisted she will not immediately close down the Dolly prostitution complex, covering some 30 hectares. Despite pressure mainly from Governor Soekarwo and Islamic quarters in East Java, she said she was exploring alternatives like training sex workers, as merely closing down Dolly would only scatter the sex business beyond control.

The Jakarta AIDS Prevention Commission (KPAP) reports Jakarta has over 7,600 sex workers, plus another 13,000 employed in other aspects of the sex trade.

Commission secretary Rohana Manggala said sex workers would wander around Tanah Abang if Bongkaran was closed, or move to other red-light areas.

'I am not supporting the legality of a prostitution complex, but it would be easier if they [sex workers] could all be found in the same place,' she said.

If sex workers were scattered, she said, KPAP would intensify the role of task forces ' often led by sex workers themselves ' in known prostitution areas.

'Prostitution will exist as long as humans do. We can only explain the risks, encourage those who have been infected with HIV to get treatment and support prostitutes to get different jobs because they cannot be sex workers forever,' she said.

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