PSK Punishments
Sep 28th, 2006, in News, by PatungThe Surakarta/Solo branch of the Mujahidin Council wants tougher penalties for PSK, or prostititues.
A group of Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI) members, accompanied by their lawyer M Kurniawan, visited the state courthouse in Solo on the 27th to ask judges to impose harsher penalties on prostitutes and presumably their customers.
MMI spokesman Adi Basuki said to a representative of the court, Bambang Kusmunandar, that sentences handed out to PSK (pekerja seks komersial) were too light and not in accordance with a recently passed law (Peraturan Daerah No. 3 2006), which, he said, allows for punishments of up to 3 months in prison and fines of up to 50 million rupiah for crimes of sexual immorality.
Basuki gave a few examples. On 19th of September 11 PSK were sentenced by judge Y. Suguwidarto to three days confinement and given fines of 500 rupiah each. Then again on 22nd of September judge M. Kadarisman handed out seven day jail terms, with a further 21 days of probation, for 21 prostitutes, based on regional law No 1 1975. In both cases, the MMI complained, the judges were not abiding by the new regulations.
After hearing the jihadists out Bambang Kusmunandar said that he appreciated their input but that his authority could not interfere with the decisions handed down by judges, considering that judges were independent. Another report says that one Sunarto of the court said that judges did not know about the new law.
8 Comments on “PSK Punishments”
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Mohammed Khafi says:
It is a great shame that Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia cannot put some effort into resolving the social problems that force these girls into prostitution in the first place, but that would require thought and effort and a social conscience wouldn’t it?
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Marsel says:
Agree with you Khaf.
They didn’t solve the problem by doing that. Or maybe yes, they do..temporarily.
Maybe a strong law or punishment for the pimp is more appropiate than the girls themselves.
And for the prostitution, yes, it needs conscience to solve it. -
Hassan says:
just a thought guys, wasn’t it the government’s responsibility to “resolve the social problems that force these girls into prostitution in the first place” and not the MMI’s?? the MMI had done it’s job as an Islamic organization, now the government must do theirs.
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the MMI had done it’s job as an Islamic organization
So the MMI’s job as an Islamic Organisation is to campaign for the PSK to be given greater punishments, even if the PSK are forced into the job by poverty or social deprivation.
Don’t you think that it would be better for the whole community if MMI were trying to ensure that they are there to provide support for the poor in the form of education, job creation, social work or charitable work, or even trying to give both the PSK and their customers moral understanding, by doing the things which the government are obviously incapable of doing.
A simple question Hassan, which of the two choices above do you think is the best? The campaigning for destructive, heavier punishments or the caring and nurturing one?
Peace
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the best solution khafi is both, the campaigning for heavier punishments AND the caring and nurturing one in the same time. that my friend, even you cannot deny. the nurturing and caring campaign must be given in such a way as to not give any indication that prostitution is an allowed practice under certain circumstances, do you not agree?
but let me ask you which group of people in Indonesia had the power and facilities to do all that?? MMI was not established for such a purpose, as they are after all the ‘majelis mujahiddin Indonesia’, not the ‘majelis untuk penanggulangan penyakit masyarakat’.
anyway, only the government had the power and the resources to do both approaches, the coercive and the caring one. if they can’t do the first one, then at least they should do the other. what we have now is a government which had done neither one. maybe khafi, you should pioneer the establishment of that ‘majelis untuk penanggulangan penyakit masyarakat’ that I had mentioned.
is it not a good idea to do what you preach??
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pj_bali says:
Reality check guys. Prostitution had existed since recorded history and will probably exist for eternity. It spans all civilizations past and present and knows no religious boundaries.
If is has not gone away in 7000 years isnt it just a little bit naive to think that calling for harsher sentences for prostitution will solve the problem.
The criminalization of prostitition does not “clean up the streets” as politicians would have us believe. By criminalizing prostitution it is only driven it underground and deprives the people in the industry protection under the law. For me it would be far more moral for the government to legalize the business, license the brothels and protect the workers. Leaving them to the tender mercies of religious hooligans, snakeheads,mafia thugs and hardcore prison inmates is only putting our heads in the sand and hoping the problem will go away.
The judge understood the realities here in Indonesia. Thats probably why the girls received a light sentence.
If the government nationalized PSK maybe the problem would go away, the business would soon become unprofitable and the PSKs would move on to more lucrative forms of employment.
typical of the MMI to pick on people who are unable to proctect themselves, just doing their job as an islamic organisation? Cmon guys, can’t you just feel the love?
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funny says:
so instead of thinking a heavier punsihments for rapists and the like, instead they make heavier punishments for people (some of whom really don’t have a choice. pretty sure no one said that they wanna grow up to be a prostitute) who are defenseless.
*sigh*
i need my gin.
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Glad to hear this.
At least, they didnt go brutal and burn the prostitution site.
Good progress.