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Kalijodo eviction begins, red light district turns to dust
Once a pleasure center for the middle and lower-classes with cafés serving beer women, the infamous red-light district of Kalijodo in North Jakarta has now turned to ruins as the city administration officially closed it down on Monday.
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An excavator tears down a cafe belonging to Kalijodo boss Daeng Azis on Monday morning. The city administration officially closed down Jakarta's red-light district on Monday by tearing down buildings in the area. (Kompas.com/Kahfi Dirga Cahya)
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nce a pleasure center for the middle and lower-classes with cafés serving beer and women, the infamous red-light district of Kalijodo in North Jakarta has now turned to ruins as the city administration officially closed it down on Monday.
The city administration, backed by 5,000 personnel from the Jakarta Police and the Indonesian Military, demolished buildings from the morning onwards using 15 pieces of heavy equipment.
The big excavators tore down cafés, houses and houses of worship.
Despite the wasteland, five families insisted of staying in the area.
One of them was Leonard Eko, who blamed the city administration under Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama for the evictions and the closure.
"Ahok is worse than the New Order regime," he said,
However, he said that the remaining residents would not fight back.
"The heavy equipment is the hands of Ahok. Let them evict Kalijodo. We won't fight. We just want to see how it happens," Leonard's relative, a middle-aged woman, told thejakartapost.com.
The woman refused to be named and said she had evacuated her grandchildren before Monday's closure.
Another woman hysterically cried and screamed at the officers as they urged her to leave her house.
The city administration demanded that residents leave the area by 3 p.m.
Officials from the city administration persuaded them to leave peacefully.
North Jakarta Mayor Rustam Efendi said the remaining residents had bargained to get low-cost apartments with ownership rights.
No security disturbances occurred during the eviction process as many had feared would happen.
Police and TNI officers were assigned to prevent disturbances and arrange traffic. The closure caused traffic congestion in the Kalijodo area.
Governor Ahok has set his eyes on developing a large children’s park on the cleared land as part of the administration’s ambition to improve green spaces and public facilities in Jakarta.
"We have the design and we will build a children's park," he said at City Hall on Monday as quoted by kompas.com.
According to the design, the park will feature a large soccer field.
The city aims to develop of the park as soon as possible, Ahok said. The governor noted that immediate development would prevent the area from being re-occupied.
"Based on our experiences, a children's park is usually built within five months," he said without detailing the budget plan. (rin)
