Legislators call for re-opening of red light district in Indonesia’s Tulungagung to prevent HIV outbreak

Illustration
Illustration

When the East Java capital city of Surabaya shuttered Dolly, then the largest red light district in Southeast Asia, there were fears that sex workers would be forced to go underground and no longer receive the regular health checks they received while working in the area. While many did indeed go underground, there was no huge HIV/AIDS epidemic post-Dolly’s closure thanks to the local government’s efforts to rehabilitate and find work for sex workers and locals whose livelihoods depended on the red light district.

The regency of Tulungagung, also in East Java, shuttered its major red light districts in 2012 as well. But now local politicians seem to be strongly considering reopening them due to a spike in HIV/AIDS cases in the past few years.

Tulungagung Regency Council (DPRD) C Commission (which oversees health matters in the regency) Chairman Subani Sirab yesterday told the media that the regency’s health agency has struggled to control the spread of disease among sex workers, who used to receive regular check ups twice a week before the red light districts were shut.

“The health agency’s targeting is no longer strong,” Subani said, as quoted by Jawapos, while criticizing the local administration’s failure to provide solutions for sex workers who lost their livelihoods.

Based on the Tulungagung health agency’s data, there were around 500 HIV/AIDS sufferers before the red light district closures. That number spiked dramatically since then, with 1,038 women (541 of them housewives), 1,282 men, 259 sex workers and 28 transgenders currently recorded as carrying the disease.

“In my opinion, if localized [prostitution] is reopened, the health agency would have an easier time containing the spread of AIDS,” Subani said.

The local administration has not responded to the DPRD’s call to reopen red light districts in the regency.

Also Read: Dolly: The brothels are gone but the sex trade lives on



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