Some stories from around the country on morality lifting efforts by the authorities and police and the less than pleased response of some.

In the town of Sidrap, South Sulawesi, hundreds of workers at, and owners of, night spots and bars demonstrated at the office of the town mayor on Thursday, 25th May. The local council in Sidrap had previously closed down all night-time entertainment places in an effort to stamp out sinful activities, particularly the consumption of alcohol. Demonstrators engaged in scuffles with police as they attempted to force their way into the town hall.

While in Semarang, central Java, those in the massage parlour industry complained to police that the numbers of visitors to massage places had declined drastically due to a recent police operation against them.

One of the staff at “Mawar” massage parlour said that she and her co-workers were not prostitutes but just did massage:

Many of us no longer have any work. Some staff choose to just go home without having made any money. The thing is we don’t do the wrong thing, we do our job as masseuses according to the rules/law. On tv I saw some visitors to massage parlours being taken away by the police. That’s what makes us afraid.
(Banyak di antara kami yang tidak ada kerjaan meski masuk kerja. Bahkan, beberapa karyawati lainnya memilih pulang tanpa hasil. Padahal kami ini pekerja pijat beneran tidak pernah menyalahgunakan profesi, sesuai izin. Di acara teve, saya melihat ada pengunjung yang dibawa ke kantor polisi. Itu yang membuat kami takut.)

This was said at a meeting between police in Semarang and workers and owners of massage parlours to discuss the recent police campaign against massage places in the Pedurungan area of the city.

While the chief of the local police, Ujang Syamsudin, responded thus:

If you already have permission to operate you have nothing to worry about. If you don’t break the rules you needn’t be concerned. The main thing is that the permission to operate as a massage parlour must not be abused by allowing, for example, sexual activities to go on.
(Kalau sudah memiliki izin, kenapa takut. Bila kalian tidak melakukan pelanggaran aturan yang telah diterbitkan dalam perda atau aturan lain, maka tidak perlu dirisaukan. Yang jelas izin panti pijat ini tidak disalahgunakan untuk melakukan perbuatan melanggar hukum seperti asusila.)

In related news Media Indonesia reports on the progress of the anti-prostitution law being drafted in the city of Depok, near Jakarta. Qurtifa Wijaya of the Depok branch of the PKS, Partai Keadilan Sejahtera, says that he hopes the new law can be drafted and debated quickly.

Commission A has already received submissions from society on the need for the legislation.
(Komisi A sudah mendengar masukan-masukan dari masyarakat tentang perlunya perda tersebut.)

and

Commission A hopes that all parties and leaders in the parliament will accept and support this law.
(Komisi A berharap seluruh fraksi dan pimpinan DPRD Depok dapat menerima dan mendukung raperda ini.)

The Secretary General of the Department of Internal Affairs admitted that regional administrations do have the right to make their own anti-prostitution laws but warned that they must not be in conflict with national laws and must not be open to incorrect application. Progo Nurdjadman added:

If the government of Depok wants to make an anti-prostitution law then it has to be technically and procedurally sound so as to avoid misunderstandings.
(Jika Pemkot Depok ingin membuat perda anti pelacuran maka perda tersebut harus memiliki juknis dan protapnya agar tidak terjadi salah tafsir.)

Misunderstandings like this one.