Hypocrisy all around

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/04/12/hypocrisy-all-around.html

Sat, 04/12/2008 11:17 AM | Opinion

A bid by the Batu administration in East Java to curb prostitution by asking masseuses to wear a padlock on their pants not only serves as an insult to women but most of all exposes our hypocrisy.

Requiring masseuses to wear a padlock would not curb prostitution or uphold public morality; it would only make our country an international laughingstock.

We share the opinion of our minister for women's empowerment, Meutia Hatta Swasono, that this odd practice insults women and unfairly portrays masseuses as prostitutes.

If the aim of the policy is to prevent prostitution and promote tourism, as reported by the media, then this surely is the wrong way to go about pursuing these goals.

However, we disagree with Minister Meutia's proposal to improve monitoring of massage parlors by installing CCTV cameras. CCTV inside massage parlors? If that happened, no one would visit them.

There must be a better way to supervise massage parlors and curb prostitution, besides requiring masseuses to wear padlocked pants or installing CCTV cameras.

To curb prostitution, we must first understand and accept the problem.

First, it's impossible to eliminate prostitution simply because there is always a demand, and even a growing demand, and supply.

However, we act as if we can eliminate the sex industry. We declare prostitution illegal and our law enforcers close down some places of prostitution and round up streetwalkers.

Yet, prostitution is still here and thriving in places like Jakarta and Bali. There are still many locations, including massage parlors, offering sexual services.

Indonesia has even earned the reputation as one of the best countries in the region for sex tourism. It is an unwanted recognition, yet we cannot deny that many people do come to Indonesia for that purpose.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla himself once suggested the country promote the women of Puncak, West Java, to attract tourists from the Middle East.

However, the biggest consumers of the prostitution industry here are Indonesians. That is why most major cities in the country have illegal red-light districts. Ask any taxi driver and they will know exactly where to go.

We are always in a state of denial. We like to portray ourselves as a religious society, and we don't want to believe that red-light districts exist in the country or that the number of commercial sex workers is increasing. We are hypocrites.

There is also a big question that should be answered. How do the operators of prostitution dens and pimps survive the raids by law enforcers and the sweeps by overzealous religious groups.

Some would say that to survive in the industry, you have to "cooperate" with the law enforcers and the religious groups, who often act as protection rings. Money, of course, is key to this cooperation.

The picture is bleak and we must recognize this if we want to address the problem. We cannot eliminate prostitution, at the same time we cannot legalize it because it is still too sensitive an issue. At the least, then, me must regulate it.

Countries like Thailand, Cambodia and Singapore all treat prostitution as illegal but they recognize and regulate the industry.

Regulation is especially necessary to protect sex workers from exploitation and denial of their rights, and also to prevent the spread of diseases and HIV/AIDS. Also, the government can impose hefty taxes on businesses or people offering sexual services for money.

But regulating the sex business requires courage and leadership. It's difficult, but possible. We have precedence for this. Former Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin, defying protests from various quarters, established an official red-light district in Kramat Tunggak, North Jakarta. The area is now occupied by an Islamic center.

Ali Sadikin is to this day the only head of local government who has correctly addressed the issue of prostitution. Now with decentralization, local heads of government have greater say in their local affairs, and therefore they have a greater opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Ali Sadikin.

Let's hope heads of local governments are not only zealous about drafting and imposing sharia-inspired bylaws, but also dare to regulate, and not negate, the sex business.