Today I marveled, as I read The Jakarta Post online, at how news has changed since the years under Suharto, when I lived there. I remember getting the 3-days old International Herald Tribune from Singapore, with sections inked out in dark black by the Indonesian press regulators. It used to be that Tempo would bravely express a politically opposing view, and that was the extent of the "secularism" of the press. Nowadays, we read a very different press in Indonesia, because society is changing.
Jakarta is considering legalizing prostitution and gambling, because it will be easier to control (think HIV, condoms, etc.) and because it will increase city revenues. Concerns raised include the safety of children possibly involved in prostitution, and "the public in general."
Of those fighting prostitution in their neighborhood, one district leader had a very creative, likely highly effective method for closing a local brothel:
Separately, head of Ciracas district Muhammad Iwan said that the district office had decided to convert a former brothel complex into a to dump site.
"We have cleared the complex of prostitutes nine times since January this year, but the sex workers just return again and again," he complained.
He said the conversion of the complex into a dump site was meant to deter sex worker's clients from coming to the area.
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