JAKARTA
The day after Southeast Asia's largest red light area was told to close its doors, some former employees had already started to line up for compensation.
Indah, a former pimp queuing Thursday with around 50 other sex workers at a military command office in the Indonesian city of Surabaya, told the Anadolu Agency that she will use the money for a new business.
"I will raise cattle in my home town," she said proudly, referring to the lush East Javan agricultural area of Nganjuk.
Not more than 5 miles away, some of the crumbling vice dens in a sleazy district of narrow lanes nicknamed "Dolly" - after a Dutch madam who ran a brothel in the city during colonial rule - had already shut up shop, their windows - where women had for years touted their wares - now empty.
The area began in the 1970s as a small collection of brothels, but quickly expanded to house hundreds of pimps and sex workers among guesthouses, nightclubs and karaoke lounges. Around them grew a eco-system of food sellers, rickshaw drivers, and parking attendants.
On Wednesday night, Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini - on a crusade to revamp Indonesia’s second-largest city - declared the complex closed, the announcement immediately opposed by prostitutes, pimps, and the people who depend on Dolly for their livelihoods.
As cries of "Fry Risma! Fry Risma!" filled the midnight air, they burned the letter of compensation, and a nearby brothel shut its doors for good. The last is supposed to close by a July deadline.
Andre - most Indonesians only use one name - told AA that he and other "entrepreneurs" had resisted the order as it will cause unemployment.
What's more, he said, the government’s compensation of IDR 5 million (US$419) is nothing compared to their monthly income.
"Our average income is eight million per month," he said, stating that so far only one owner had closed his business.
Since Wednesday morning, Dolly residents have been blocking the entrance to the area, determined to keep out hardliners set on driving the industry from city. Many of them carried pots and pans to symbolize that they relied on Dolly for their income.
On Tuesday, police caught a 22-year-old man - who said he had been sent by his Islamic guardians to attack the area - pelting buildings with stones. Socio-religious organization group The Islamic Defenders Front has also sent 50 members to "ensure" Dolly closes completely.
"They are ready for war if there is physical resistance. We are ready to stake our lives for the closure of Dolly," Front Chairman Abdul Aziz told AA by phone.
The mayor has promised that those leaving the trade will be given an allowance from the municipal government, provincial government and the Ministry of Social Affairs.
It has prepared a budget of IDR 16 billion (US$1,340) to allow sex workers to buy a house in the region, while the provincial government has granted a budget of IDR 1.5 billion (US$1,250) in assistance to 311 pimps, each promised around IDR 5 million (US$419).
Each of the area's 1,449 listed sex workers will be given IDR 5,050,000 (US$424) from a pot of IDR 8 billion (US$6,711), but only - of course - if they leave the industry. Previously sex workers - had earned IDR 13-IDR 15 million (US$109-US$125) per month, while pimps picked up as much as IDR 60 million (US$500).
Mayor Rismaharini - having discovered underage children were being trafficked during several unannounced visits to the area - has spoken of "a need to help the children of the neighborhood."
She told members of the Human Rights Commission during a June 13 meeting that she would assure that there would be no human rights violations in closing the area.
"We want the local people, especially children, to have a better future... I am sure, these good intentions will be facilitated by the Great Allah," she added.
In Surabaya's neighboring areas, some have already talked of the excitement of sex workers leaving the Dolly area and seeking pastures anew.
Budi Nugroho, a social activist in neighboring Bandungan, told AA that the influx of prostitutes to these areas would ramp up the evening's entertainment.
"It seems the exodus will be welcomed with open arms. So far in Bandungan, there are little prostitutes. There's no balance between the needs and the inventory," he said.
Others however have warned of the problems such an exodus may have on communities not attuned to the problems that prostitution can bring.
Ari Istiadi, safety coordinator at Localization Sunan Kuning, said it would be difficult to control the spread of HIV/AIDS that may arrive with commercial sex workers.
