Jakarta governor wants photos of ‘guests’ at infamous apartment posted to social media to deter prostitution

The Kalibata City apartment complex in South Jakarta has become notorious after numerous police raids have revealed prostitution rings operating inside its confines over the years, many involving underage sex workers. Governor Anies Baswedan, who has often promised to put an end to the prostitution industry throughout the Indonesian capital, visited the infamous apartment on Saturday and offered up what some would consider a controversial solution to Kalibata’s prostitution problem.

South Jakarta Mayor Marullah, who accompanied Anies during his visit, explained the governor’s prostitution deterrence plans to the media today.

“There are several ways, including the one conveyed by the governor which is to install CCTV cameras at the entrances to monitor residents and guests, if we install CCTVs we can see them. If they are the residents, of course all know, this is person A or B etc, but if is not the residents then we can display them,” Marullah said as quoted by Kumparan.

 

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Bersama Walikota Jakarta Selatan, Pak Marullah, berboncengan motor menuju Kawasan Apartemen Kalibata City untuk inspeksi terkait dengan sorotan publik terhadap dugaan praktik prostitusi di tempat tersebut. Bertemu dengan penghuni, pengelola dan unsur RT/RW di lingkungan tersebut. Hadir juga jajaran Pemprov dari Walikota, Camat dan Lurah. . Pengelola Kalibata City harus bertanggung jawab mengembalikan kawasan ini dari tempat yang ditengarai dan dicitrakan melakukan pembiaran terhadap praktik prostitusi, menjadi kawasan yang bersih dan terhormat lagi. . Pemprov DKI memperhatikan masalah ini dengan serius dan menginstruksikan kepada seluruh pengelola hunian vertikal di Jakarta agar tak membiarkan praktik perdagangan manusia dan prostitusi terjadi di lingkungannya. Saya sampaikan, pengelola hunian vertikal jangan sampai berseberangan dengan pemerintah dalam hal ini, tapi harus berada di sisi yang sama. Tugas Pemprov mendisiplinkan pengelola yang tidak sejalan. . Ingat, kita harus bantu lepaskan mereka yang terjerat oleh lingkar perdagangan manusia dan prostitusi. Kita hargai dan hormati setiap perempuan sebagaimana kita hormati Ibu kandung kita sendiri. . Khusus Kalibata City, sudah disiapkan langkah untuk penghentian dan pencegahan dengan melibatkan penghuni. Penghunilah yang paling tahu jurus pencegahan yg paling jitu di lingkungannya, dan pengelola harus melaksanakannya. . Salah satu prinsip pencegahan: wajah dan nama “tamu” akan difoto-dicatat dan tentu saja bisa diumumkan pada publik.

A post shared by Anies Baswedan (@aniesbaswedan) on Sep 16, 2018 at 1:52am PDT

The plan was also mentioned in the caption on photos of Anies’ visit to Kalibata on his Instagram account. At the end of the caption, it says, “One principle of prevention: the faces and names of ‘guests’ will be photographed and of course can be announced to the public.”

Calling prostitution a disease on the community, Mayor Marullah elaborated by saying that the point of displaying guests’ faces was not to embarrass them but to deter them with the fear of being caught. He said the plan was to have the guests’ photos displayed on Kalibata City’s social media accounts, although he did not offer more details on whether the plan was to only post the photos of those proven or suspected to have solicited the services of a sex worker.

The South Jakarta mayor said the the government would also require all guests at the apartment to sign a guestbook upon entry and has prohibited the management from renting rooms out on a daily basis as further preventative measures.

Governor Anies made shutting down places of a prostitution a major platform of his campaign and closed the infamous Alexis Hotel in Ancol soon after he took office. However, following a recent prostitution scandal involving players from the Japanese national basketball team competing in Jakarta at the Asian Games, some politicians have accused the governor of only closing Alexis for the purpose of scoring political points while not seriously addressing the hundreds of other businesses that offer sexual services in Jakarta all but openly, such as massage parlors and “executive clubs”.