The drama over Jakarta’s infamous Alexis Hotel, long rumored to be a hotbed of high-class prostitution, is getting heated once again with Governor Anies Baswedan saying that Alexis’ management admitted to charges that they were still facilitating prostitution (despite having part of their business license shut down due to sex work suspicions) while an Alexis rep has flat out denied it and essentially accused the governor of making it up.
Soon after taking office in October, Anies seemingly fulfilled his campaign promise to shut down Alexis as part of a larger moral crusade against the widespread practice of prostitution in Jakarta. But all Anies’ administration really did was to refuse to renew the business license for Alexis’ infamous 7th floor spa. The hotel also contains a nightclub (called 4Play) with karaoke rooms which remain legally active.
Rumors eventually emerged that sexual services were still on the menu at 4Play and a recent exposee investigation by Tempo accused the venue of essentially being a strip club, complete with karaoke rooms and female attendants who gave lap dances behind closed doors. One patron told the magazine that Alexis is “the same as before. Awesome.”
Anies said his administration would carry out an investigation into Alexis in light of the report and, last Saturday, he claimed that the hotel’s management had confessed to their wrong doing.
“Two days ago we just finished the examination with Alexis and we already have the police investigation report (BAP), now we are just completing the follow-up procedure and the examination results of the report as they have confessed their guilt,” Anies said on Saturday as quoted by Detik.
However, Lina Novita, a legal consultant for Alexis, denied that such an admission of guilt had ever been made.
“We never entered a guilty plea related to the practice of prostitution in our venue,” Lina said in an official statement received by Kompas yesterday. She also told the media that authorities hadn’t even questioned or called on the hotel’s management for questioning in line with BAP procedure.
Regarding the video allegedly showing “adult activities” still taking place at Alexis that’s been circulating on social media, Lina denied that it had actually been filmed there. She said the hotel’s management was investigating the other media reports and would crack down on any employees practicing or facilitating prostitution since that was against the company’s SOP.
Pressed on Alexis’ denial, Anies said yesterday that he would soon give reporters evidence of the hotel’ admission of guilt in the form of the BAP report and said that 4Play would be shut down in line with government regulations against prostitution. However, as of the time of writing, the BAP has not yet been shown to the media.
