Sandiaga Uno, future vice governor of Jakarta, has put forth quite a few… let’s say, “controversial” ideas about running the capital since he and his running mates, Governor-elect Anies Baswedan, won the April runoff election. His latest controversial comments relate to Kalijodo, a former red-light district that was demolished by former Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama but which has increasingly seen a return of the area’s old vices.
Sandiaga previously suggested that the area’s problem with preman (thugs) could be solved by having banks hire the street toughs as debt collectors. Yesterday, the vice governor-elect went further by suggesting that Kalijodo should go follow the example of Las Vegas, which he described as a former place of prostitution that has been economically successful in cleaning up its act.
“The best example is Las Vegas, where prostitution is increasingly being eliminated because there is now so much economic activity from meetings and conventions,” Sandiaga said in Menteng yesterday as quoted by Kompas.
Sandiaga, who along with Anies ran a campaign designed to appeal to Muslim piety, did not mention the fact that Las Vegas remains economically successful in large part because it is still one of the most famous gambling destinations on Earth.
But he did say Kalijodo could also become a strategic economic area that benefits its residents, provided the government is able to equip them with a variety of basic skills such as how to start their own spa and salon businesses.
The future vice governor also brought up the problem of preman in the area once again, saying that it should be handled similarly to how the city of Chicago handled their crime problem.
According to Sandiaga, many of Chicago’s thugs were redeemed by entering the corporate realm.
“Within corporations, they can be educated and given certain skills and talents that can be used in our emerging economies,” he said without elaborating. He might have been referring to his previous idea of hiring preman as debt collectors, but we have no idea what specific parallel he is drawing to Chicago (which is arguably the most dangerous city in America) solving its crime problems by having thugs working for corporations.
Sandi went on to say that the root of both prostitution and thuggery is a lack of jobs, so sustainable employment solutions are what is needed most.
On that, most people would probably agree. But Sandiaga’s ideas of keeping people employed as parking preman or having thugs work as corporate debt collectors? Probably much more controversial.
