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Red-light area a new focus of democracy

Source
Sydney Morning Herald - April 12, 2000

This city in the West Java hills is home to Indonesia's state phone company, a moribund aircraft project and the country's best-known technical school. But it is the local brothel district that has everyone's attention.

A honeycomb of alleys, hovels and open drains, the unsavoury neighbourhood has become a playing field for the new national sport – democracy. It has already produced a star player: a turbaned, youthful Muslim cleric by the unlikely name of Abdullah Gymnastiar.

Participatory politics is in its infancy in Indonesia, but Mr Gymnastiar may be a fair reflection of how it is evolving. He holds no position and has never run for office. He is not affiliated with any of the political parties that have sprouted in the two years since former president Soeharto's downfall. His primary activity is running business management seminars steeped in Islamic teachings.

But Mr Gymnastiar, 37, has crafted a formidable power base, mobilising thousands of university-educated youths through his homespun mix of management-guru philosophy and religion. He has succeeded where other moral crusaders have failed: he has closed down much of the city's gambling and narcotics business. Mr Gymnastiar and his white-robed followers want to wipe out Saritem, a red-light district in Bandung's Chinatown.

Their campaign shows how politics – elitist and highly centralised during Mr Soeharto's 30-year rule – is fragmenting, allowing individuals to build support by tapping into local issues, including sensitive ethnic and religious ones.

On the surface, movements such as Mr Gymnastiar's are not overtly political. Largely Muslim Indonesia has always been prone to occasional outbursts of moral anger. But the ethnically and religiously diverse country is officially a secular state and a substantial segment of moderate Muslims opposes the socially conservative versions of Islam prevailing in, say, Saudi Arabia or Iran.

Although gambling, prostitution and drug-taking have long been illegal, law enforcement has been lax. Protected behind a wall of corruption, such pursuits have quietly thrived. The economic crisis of the past two years has only fed the business.

But as Indonesia opens up, the line between political and moral issues is blurring. Outbreaks of vigilante violence in the name of Islam are increasingly common. Such incidents have occurred in Indonesia in the past. But since Mr Wahid took office in October they have steadily increased.

It is not clear how such outbursts may influence future national politics. In Jakarta, would-be political barons still play by the old, elitist rules. But at the local level, politics already is starting to look different in many parts of Indonesia. About 10 district chiefs have been fired by new local parliaments.

The result is room for new power-brokers like Mr Gymnastiar, who declares a clear goal which goes beyond ridding Java's third- largest city of sin. "I need to make Bandung an example of what Indonesia could be," he said. "If Bandung is a clean city, then others could follow."

Since he began his campaign in December, Saritem has become a ghetto under siege. Slung across its main entrance for the past two months has been a banner warning of drastic action if the prostitutes and pimps do not quit: "Let's struggle until the wickedness disappears," it reads. Business in the area is down by half, says Hasan, a pimp.

The campaign has already helped change how Bandung is run. Local generals have quietly backed Mr Gymnastiar's effort, withdrawing their protection from gambling and prostitution rackets.

Many of Mr Gymnastiar's followers have attended training courses organised by the local military academy – a sign the once – powerful military is looking for new, cleaner allies. Indeed, Mr Gymnastiar was recently invited to lecture 1,500 local soldiers on regaining public trust. "You cannot buy the hearts of the people with your muscles," he told them. "Many of the officers cried," Mr Gymnastiar recalled.

Officials not known for their speed are busy drawing up plans to replace the red-light district with a mosque, an Islamic boarding school and a car park.

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