The Jakarta Post, Surabaya, Saturday November 01 2014,
Prostitution remains thriving in Surabaya, East Java, despite the closure of the Dolly red-light district, purportedly the biggest in Southeast Asia, as the industry has turned to the cyber world.
“The girls are still available. If you want, I have nice ones,” said Iqbal, who pimps for customers in quiet areas around brothels that are no longer operating.
At a sidewalk coffee stall in Putat Jaya subdistrict, Sawahan district, Surabaya, Iqbal showed some 20 photographs on his smartphone of women of various ages. He claimed they were former Dolly workers.
“The fees are still the same as previously. The fee for a young woman is between Rp 250,000 (US$22) and Rp 300,000 for short term, but cheaper for those over 35 years old. I’ve prepared the lodging,” said Iqbal.
The room that Iqbal referred to was not located in the Dolly red-light district. Since Dolly’s closure, several boarding houses on Jl. Putat Jaya have been subjected to raids by the local police’s public order unit and the Surabaya City Police as they are believed to be new places of prostitution.
“I can send you to a small, clean and air-conditioned hotel in the Pa-sar Kembang area, which is located around 5 kilometers from here. The rate is Rp 250,000 per night,” said Iqbal.
When a deal is struck, according to Iqbal, the client is sent to the hotel and not long after, a sex worker chosen at the coffee stall will arrive.
Iqbal also offers sex workers to his regular customers through Blackberry Messenger (BBM).
The pimp, who had worked in the Dolly area for years, said he could earn between Rp 1 million and Rp 2 million nightly.
The Red-Light District Dai Association’s East Java chapter head, Sunarto, said that prostitution deals are quietly continuing in the former Dolly area.
“The sex workers secretly continue to operate, while the pimps still wait for customers at the site. Some of them use social media and the Internet to offer their services,” he added.
However, Surabaya City Police Crime and Intelligence Unit chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Sumaryono said there were no indications of former Dolly tenants being involved in online prostitution networks.
Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini, or Risma, denied that online prostitution in the city was an impact of the closure of the Dolly and Jarak red-light districts.
“Prostitution through the Internet was rife before several of the major red-light districts in the city were closed. So, their closures did not trigger the presence of online prostitution,” said Risma.
She cited the case of Keyko, a high-profile pimp from Surabaya who used BBM and Facebook to lure clients for sex workers across the country until she was arrested in 2012.
Another pimp, Nauda Fiolet, 22, of Kedungdoro subdistrict, Tegalsari district, Surabaya, also posted photos of her sex workers in a BBM group and on a website to get customers. She was arrested in June.
(Oh-oh, me thinks 'bu Risma is going to throw a fit like she did after that "icecream party" in S'baya
) siK.
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za 1 nov 2014 - 5:32
