The Pontianak administration in West Kalimantan said it would discontinue the issuance of business licenses for massage parlors.

'I assure that in the future, no new licenses will be given to massage parlor businesses,' Pontianak Mayor Sutarmidji said over the weekend, as quoted by Antara news agency.

The recent mushrooming of massage parlors in the city that allegedly operate as clandestine brothels has aroused the ire of the mayor.

Sutarmidji said he himself would be in charge of issuing massage parlor business licences. He added that several parlors currently in operation would be shut down on suspicions of prostitution activity.

He also said that similar actions would be applied to beauty parlors or spa centers that provided disguised prostitution services. If needed, he said, all massage parlors in the city would be closed because many have not been operating in accordance with the licensing.

'We don't want to receive the side effects of the closure of the Dolly red-light district in Surabaya. We are afraid prostitutes from Dolly, the biggest prostitution center in Asia, will move to Pontianak.' Sutarmidji said.

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