Sex workers give red light to leaving famed Amsterdam district

Yahoo – AFP, Jan HENNOP, July 30, 2019

Sex workers give red light to leaving famed Amsterdam district

Amsterdam (AFP) - Bathed in red neon light, hundreds of prostitutes ply their trade from behind windows in the narrow canalside streets of Amsterdam – and that's how they want it to stay.

The Dutch capital's first female mayor has vowed to clean up the notorious red light district and possibly even close some of the famed window booths, but sex workers say they won't move.

"I have one thing to say to all these people who call us vulnerable, and that is that they don't know us at all," said Felicia Anna, chairwoman of Red Light United, a newly-formed union for window-frame sex workers.

"All it shows to me and to all my colleagues here is that these people who talk about us this way, really don't know us," the 33-year-old, who declined to give her real name, told AFP.

The area is one of the biggest tourist draws in a city that attracted around 18 million visitors last year.

But rising crime and the sheer number of visitors have contributed to huge problems in the area, once called a "square kilometre of misery" by police.

Mayor Femke Halsema listed "disruptive behaviour and a disrespectful attitude to the sex workers in the windows" as key problems, along with a "major increase in unlicensed, underground prostitution."

'Circus animals'

The green-left mayor has put forward four options to change the red light district, in what she says is a bid to curb crime and human trafficking, and to make life more pleasant for people who live there.

The first is to literally draw curtains over the window booths so people cannot see the sex workers from the street.

The second option is to move some window booths to other areas of the city, while the more radical option three is to close down and move all of them.

However the fourth option is to actually increase the number of window brothels in the red light district from the current level of 330, and possibly also create a "sex hotel", on the grounds that it will help sex workers trapped in the unlicensed sector to move to the licensed industry.

People who live in the area broadly back the changes. One resident of the Wallen neighbourhood, more commonly known as the Red Light district, told AFP "the women are treated worse than circus animals."

"Many residents would rather see the window frames closed and moved elsewhere," he said.

'Creates a stigma'

But those in the industry are not so keen.

"Our research among 170 sex workers behind the windows showed clearly that 93 percent of them do not want to move away from the red light district," said Romanian-born Anna.

"From the four scenarios for sex workers, only number four is in our benefit," she said. "We don't support the first three."

She disputed the mayor's claims that many women working in the red light district are vulnerable.

"Calling us victims and vulnerable to trafficking is not in our benefit. This creates a stigma around us... stop talking about us this way."

People involved in the sex trade admit there are problems, particularly with the sheer number of tourists, but say that shutting the red light district windows or moving are not the answer.

"Of the scenarios, we think the fourth one is of course the best," said Masten Stavast, who owns some 27 of the windows and rooms which he rents out to sex workers.

"Amsterdam is a small place and lately it has been way too busy here in the streets," his son and business partner Dave Kroeke agreed.

"Something has to change," he said.

'Still traumatised'

Recently, residents, business owners and off-duty sex workers met city officials, including Halsema, to discuss and exchange ideas on her proposals, which are slated for further talks in the city council in September.

Most told AFP that a previous plan by the council to concentrate window prostitution in a small area around the Wallen's two canals failed.

But residents also said that mass tourism in the Wallen caused great inconvenience -- and in at least one case, physical harm.

In a scene all too familiar with locals, Gijs, a 47-year-old academic who asked to be identified only by his first name, said he was assaulted by a British tourist near his front door.

"The guy stumbled in front of my bicycle and I crashed into his leg," after which he was surrounded by a group of drunken tourists on a canal bridge.

"The last thing I saw was the man wrapping a jersey around his fist like a boxing glove, before punching me in the jaw," he said.

"I'm still traumatised."

Is it curtains for Amsterdam's red light district?

Yahoo – AFP, July 3, 2019

Is it curtains for Amsterdam's red light district?

The Hague (AFP) - Amsterdam's mayor on Wednesday proposed drawing curtains over the notorious glass-fronted booths where sex workers ply their trade, as part of an overhaul of the city's famed red-light district.

Femke Halsema, the Dutch capital's first female mayor, presented four options for improving conditions for women who work in prostitution, cutting crime and reducing the burden of mass tourism in the area.

The red-lit canalside windows and sex shops of the Wallen district near the main train station are one of the biggest draws for the 18 million tourists who flock to the Netherlands' biggest city every year.

"For many visitors, the sex workers have become no more than an attraction to look at. In some cases this is accompanied by disruptive behaviour and a disrespectful attitude to the sex workers in the windows," her office said in a statement.

"At the same time, there has also been a major increase in unlicensed, underground prostitution."

Under the mayor's first option "the curtains of the window brothels close" so that "sex workers and their workplaces are no longer visible from the street", the statement said.

Other suggestions include moving some of the window booths out of allen to other areas of the city, or closing down all of the booths in the area and setting up a new red light district elsewhere.

However, the city could also increase the number of window brothels in the red light district from the current level of 330, while a "the establishment of a sex work hotel is also a possibility".

The mayor will meet sex workers, residents and local businesses in July, and Amsterdam city council will discuss her proposals in September.

Prostitution was legalised in the Netherlands in 2000 and sexworkers can register with the local chamber of commerce and pay income tax.

Around 7,000 people work in the paid-sex sector in Amsterdam, with around 75 percent of them coming from low-income countries, particularly eastern Europe, according to official figures

Amsterdam bans red light district guided tours to beat tourist boom

DutchNews, March 20, 2019.

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Amsterdam is banning all organised tours from the city’s red light district and has placed a maximum of 15 participants on guided tours throughout the rest of the medieval centre. 

The measure is the latest in a string of plans to reduce the nuisance caused by too many tourists in the oldest part of the city, which locals say is making it impossible to live there.

 The ban on tours, with titles such as ‘tour the red light with mistress Lola’, will come into effect on January 1 next year and includes pub crawls and other organised guided walks.

‘We do not consider it appropriate for tourists to leer at sex workers,’ alderman Udo Kock said, announcing the plans. 

Research shows that more than 1,000 organised groups spend time on  Oudekerksplein in the heart of the red light district every week, with a peak of 28 an hour in the early evening.

City officials have been tightening the controls on groups of tourists in the red light district for the past year. Guides now need to have proper papers, there is a limit on numbers and a ban on late night group excursions. 

Guides outside the red light district will now have to have permits as well, city officials say. The new measures introduced across the city centre also include a ban on free tours and touting for participants, and the introduction of a tourist tax on ticket prices. 

Urban jungle 

Amsterdam’s ombudsman made international headlines last year describing the city’s red light district as an ‘urban jungle’. 

And while the measures introduced so far have resulted in a drop in the nuisance experienced by local residents, two-thirds still say they are bothered by the guided visits. 

In addition, four in five prostitutes say that the presence of guided tours is hurting their business. Local councillors and city mayor Femke Halsema have all suggested moving the red light district to a new location as an option.

Amsterdam licences new brothel to be run by prostitutes themselves

DutchNews, May 16, 2017

One of the buildings which has now
been turned back into a brothel.
Photo: Amsterdam.nl 

A brothel partly run by prostitutes themselves is set to open in Amsterdam, several years after the idea was first mooted. 

Amsterdam city council handed over the formal licence for the brothel to the organisers on Tuesday, who can now begin to interview potential prostitutes to work in the heart of the city’s notorious red light district. 

The brothel, which has 14 windows, is housed in four buildings bought by the city some 10 years ago from red light district lynch pin Charles Geerts. The rooms were designed with input from prostitutes themselves and some include a bath and other facilities. 

The brothel has been advertising its services since last year when the city council approved the original plans. No prostitutes have yet been signed up but spokeswoman Justine Le Clercq told broadcaster NOS lots of people have expressed an interest. 

‘Women with different backgrounds have got in touch with us and we’ve had an email from a man as well,’ she said. 

In the original plans, prostitutes themselves were set to run the brothel but that work is now being done by a foundation called My Red Light. The board includes people who know the industry well while prostitutes themselves make up the advisory board. 

Freelancers

The prostitutes will be treated as freelancers and can rent a room within the building. Trouw put the prize at €80 for a day shift and double that at night and in the evening.

‘Sex workers will determine their own rental terms and working hours,’ supervisory board member Marieke de Ridder told the Guardian. ‘There will also be more social control, because the sex workers in My Red Light will be more involved with each other.’ 

The city council has been trying to combat human trafficking and exploitation in the red light district since 2007 and has bought out several notorious brothel keepers. Over 100 windows have been closed. 

Risks 

Not everyone is convinced that the project is a good idea. Prostitution researcher Karin Werkman told the Guardian that prostitution is a form of sexual exploitation, and even in a controlled environment there can be no guarantees of ‘clean’ prostitution. 

‘The only people who benefit from this are the sex buyers. They can tell themselves that by going to this place they are making use of ‘clean’ prostitution. But that really is an illusion,’ she said. 

However, Amsterdam’s mayor Eberhard van der Laan told the rest of the city council last week he hopes the project will inspire others to better take the wishes of sex workers into account. 

‘The fact that sex workers are going to run a prostitution company themselves is an important next step in the normalisation of sex work,’ the mayor said.

The Fokkens sisters -- both great-grandmothers several times over -- say

they have seen it all (AFP, Anoek de Groot)

Related Article:

Dutch granny prostitutes celebrate red-light life

Thousands of modern slaves in the Netherlands, says report

DutchNews, June 1, 2016

Photo: Depositphotos.com

A new report estimates that 17,500 people are ‘modern slaves’ in the Netherlands, working as forced labourers or victims of sexual exploitation.

The Global Slavery Index, created by Australian human rights organisation the Walk Free Foundation, claims 45.8 million people ‘are subject to some form of modern slavery in the world today.’ 

It ranks 167 countries based on the extent of their suspected slavery problem, putting the Netherlands in 50th place of 52. Slaves are defined as people who are exploited but cannot leave due to threats, violence, coercion or abuse of power. 

Slavery in the Netherlands – estimated at 0.1% of the population – is suspected in the construction, agriculture, transport, sex and catering industries, as well as amongst people forced by criminals to beg. 

The Telegraaf reports Corinne Dettmeijer-Vermeulen, national rapporteur on human trafficking, as saying: ‘These are huge numbers. It undermines our society to have this happening under our very eyes. More people need to be aware of this and raise the alarm. For example, customers at market stalls where a child is always helping, or family doctors who see inside people’s homes.’ 

Dutch estimates were based on reports to CoMensha, a foundation dealing with victims of human trafficking, and work by criminology professor Jan van Dijk of Tilburg university. 

He said slavery can happen in diplomatic families, for instance: ‘Maids from the Philippines and from African countries are terribly exploited,’ he told the Telegraaf. ‘It is an absolute disgrace that diplomats might be guilty of such offences, purely because of their immunity.’ 

Van Dijk said most victims are African, Asian and Eastern European, but there are also native Dutch victims, often enslaved by pimps. More men have been exploited in recent years, he added. 

Even so, the Australian report ranks the Dutch government as having one of the world’s strongest responses to modern slavery, saying such countries are ‘characterised by strong political will, sufficient resources, and a strong civil society that holds governments to account.’ 

It identifies the worst places for slavery as North Korea, Uzbekistan, Cambodia and India.

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Dutch granny prostitutes celebrate red-light life

Google – AFP, Jan Hennop, 6 December 2012

The Fokkens sisters -- both great-grandmothers several times over -- say

they have seen it all (AFP, Anoek de Groot)

AMSTERDAM — In a busy passage in Amsterdam's red light district a crowd is gathering as fans jostle to have their picture taken with the city's most famous great-grannies: Twins Louise and Martine Fokkens, the Dutch capital's oldest prostitutes.

Decked out in matching red leather jackets and boots, red jeans and crocheted red berets, with Stars and Stripes scarves draped around their necks, the Fokkens cut a jaunty pair as they saunter down alleys with red-framed windows where semi-nude 'working women' put their bodies on display to lure customers.

Martine Fokkens works once or twice 

a week, including Sundays, specialising

 in soft-core bondage for the older

gentleman (AFP, Anoek de Groot)

Locals young and old line up for a chat, while gawking tourists look on in bemused confusion.

"Look it's the 'ouwe hoeren' (Dutch for old whores)," Koen Booij, 19, shouts affectionately before running up to Martine who hands him an autographed postcard advertising the sisters' latest tell-all book about Amsterdam's seedy-side, where the Fokkens have been working as prostitutes for the last half-a-century.

Since the early 1960s, first Louise and later Martine have been plying their trade around the infamous "Wallen" (Dutch for 'canal banks'), the world's best-known red light area.

Today there are an estimated 5,000 to 8,000 active sex-workers in Amsterdam -- but only a fraction do business from behind the around 370 "frames" in the area, according to the city.

Now 70, the sisters shot to fame last year when a documentary -- aptly titled "Ouwehoeren" and translated as "Meet the Fokkens" about their lives, played to critical acclaim at Amsterdam's International Documentary Film Festival.

The film was such a success that it was screened again at this year's festival last week.

Two tell-all books -- one has already been translated into English, French and other languages -- about the sisters' lives behind the red curtain followed.

A regular slot on a late-night sex-and-drugs talk show on Dutch television since October has cemented the twins' celebrity sex-worker status.

Their second book, "Ouwehoeren op reis" (Old Whores on a Journey) has just been released. Publisher Bertram en De Leeuw told AFP that 70,000 copies of the two books have already been sold in the Netherlands, propelling them into the Dutch best-seller list.

The Fokkens sisters -- both great-grandmothers several times over -- say they have seen it all: in the city where prostitutes have been selling their bodies to visiting sailors and other thrill-seekers since the 15th century, very little can still shock them.

A slot on a late-night sex-and-drugs

 talk show on Dutch television has cemented

 the twins' celebrity sex-worker status

(AFP, Anoek de Groot)

"From fathers bringing their sons for a 'first-time experience' to those with a more kinky streak, you get all sorts, " Martine told AFP, sitting on the bed at the back of her "window" on the Oude Nieuwstraat, a small alleyway that lights up in neon red as soon as the sun goes down.

"We have slept with more men than you can count," cuts in Louise, sharing a look with her sister before they both burst into laughter: "We had some great fun with the men."

Two years ago, Louise finally hung up her stilletto boots because of arthritis -- "You can't get into those sex positions", she says, while Martine still works once or twice a week, including Sundays, specialising in soft-core bondage for the older gentleman.

In early October, the sisters became a regular feature on a sex-and drugs talk show called "Spuiten en Slikken" (Shoot and Swallow) as agony aunts dealing with uncomfortable questions about sex.

"I saw them on TV. I think they are fantastic," adoring fan Booij told AFP as he patiently waited to have his photo taken. "They answer the questions our parents can't."

"They're the real deal," said Jeanine, 20, a student at the University of Amsterdam who declined to give her second name, as she asked an AFP reporter to take her picture with the sisters on her mobile phone.

"They tell guys how to treat women properly," she added.

The sisters themselves seem surprised to have so many fans, but their words on love and relationships ring true -- born of their own years of experience.

Despite their jolly demeanour and portrayal in the media as two eccentric Dutch aunts who just happens to be in the sex industry, their own story of personal hardship and abuse is never far below the surface.

Despite their jolly demeanour, Louise

 and Martine Fokkens tell a story of

 personal hardship and abuse (AFP,

Anoek de Groot)

"We had no money. My husband told me I had to go and work 'just for two years'," Louise said, her face hardening slightly as she remembers. "I didn't know what kind of work he meant. Now it's 50 years later."

"In the beginning it was really tough. You shut your brain down. In later years, it got better," she added.

Rampant violence and exploitation prompted the twins to set up the first trade union for sex-workers in the area called the "Little Red Light."

Asked whether they regretted anything about their lives, both sisters shook their heads: "We regret nothing except the fact that the red light district is changing."

"There is no code of honour any more, passed from one generation of working girls to the next," Louise said with a look of disgust.

"Today's girls wear almost no clothes. They deal and do drugs. It's about crime and money. No self-respecting prostitute does drugs," she said.

"In the olden days the girls used to look after each other. No more. The human feeling has left the red light district," she said.

No shelters for victims of people trafficking

RNW, 5 April 2011

Dutch aid organisations are facing great difficulties finding adequate shelter for victims of people trafficking.

The shortage is partly the result of the fact that several investigation services have made people-trafficking a priority. A spokesperson for the (Coordination Centre People Trafficking) has confirmed reports in the press about the shortage. Last year, the police repeatedly discovered large groups of possible victims of people trafficking.

The victims are mostly people working illegally in brothels and nurseries. According to the spokesperson, “the existing shelters can no longer handle these large numbers.” Coördinatiecentrum Mensenhandel says it has alerted the justice ministry to the difficult situation, and the two parties are trying to work out a solution. In the past year, victims had to be put up in tents and hotels.

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Underage prostitutes locked up while their pimps walk

NRC International, By Merel Thie and Frederiek Weeda, 12 April 2010 14:11

Photo Merlin Daleman

The Netherlands locks up underage girls who have been manipulated into prostitution. They are held "for their own protection". Their pimps often go free.

A white sheet lay spread out on the floor. The girl who lives in this room prefers sleeping under her desk instead of on her bed, her supervisor explained. She was neglected as a child and feels safest tucked away in a corner.

The floor-sleeper is one of 60 girls housed at the Alexandra protective care facility for minors in the Dutch city of Almelo. Of all the girls there, 90 percent were exploited by pimps. Sometimes the girls themselves deny they are victims, but if the authorities harbour strong enough suspicions they are locked up at Alexandra nonetheless.

In Alexandra, the girls are protected. Not only from their former pimps and their pimps’ friends, but also from themselves. The – often young – pimps these girls fell victim to have a fixed routine. They shower their targets with compliments, attention and gifts, looking to win them over before they force them into prostitution. In the beginning, the girls are made to sleep with their ‘lover boy’s’ friends. If all goes according to the pimp’s plan, they end up in commercial prostitution, as an escort, in one of the Netherlands’ red light districts, or on street, earning him good money.

Manipulated into prostitution

A high fence topped with barbed wire serves as a reminder of the complete isolation imposed on the girls here. Security cameras keep a constant eye on the building and its parking lot. The building, a one-time youth penitentiary, is replete with locks and secure doors. Emailing and instant messaging are forbidden and even paper mail is subject to inspection. Visitors have to leave their mobile phones and bags at the entrance.

The security measures are there because the residents’ former pimps often try to get back in touch with them. Occasionally, if they are able to find out when a girl will go on leave, they will take the same train as the girl and pop up next to her. They are not afraid to frequent the centre itself either. They show up on ‘family day’ when the girls’ relatives are being shown around the building or will drive over and use their headlights to communicate with girls from the parking lot. Some send gifts.

Girls will sometimes be asked to pass presents on to others, making them complicit in a ploy to manipulate another one of the residents back into prostitution. This is a painful topic for the girls’ caretakers. “You can see them as accomplices, but they are really acting out of fear,” said Gerda Velthuizen, who is the head of treatment at Alexandra.

The girls at Alexandra need to be protected from themselves as well, Velthuizen said. She showed the isolation booth to prove her point: a barren white room containing nothing but a mattress, a toilet and a camera. Girls are kept there for up to 24 hours if they are suicidal, threaten to hurt themselves, or are particularly aggressive. Some girls ask to be put into isolation. Sometimes because they are afraid they might do something to themselves, sometimes just because they are looking for a safe place to sleep.

The girls at Alexandra did not become so fearful because they were exploited by their pimps. Their pimps sought them out because they were troubled to begin with.

Lonely and hurt

Police detective Henk van Rijssel, in charge of the Rotterdam police force’s specialised team that targets pimps who seek out young victims, is incensed by their tendency to seek out the vulnerable. “They have knack for spotting them,” he said. Their victims are often mentally underdeveloped, have suffered a history of abuse, are lonely, or all of the above. The girls are often under 16. “The reasons these girls may have for seeing these boys are irrelevant to me really,” Van Rijssel said. “The boys take advantage of them and make big money in the process.”

Either the number of victims is on the rise, or the phenomenon is just being reported better. In 1999, a Dutch government agency received 225 reports of human trafficking. By 2009 that number had risen to 909. The majority of the trafficking cases involve women forced into prostitution.

A new group the police and caretakers have to deal with are Islamic victims. Once a Muslim girl has lost her virginity, she becomes susceptible to blackmail. “These girls are often more afraid of their father than their pimps,” Velthuizen said. “And their pimps know it.”

Beaten with beer bottles

Pimps use some grisly techniques to intimidate their victims. In a 2007 case where the court established a girl had been forced to work as a prostitute for five years. The court found the pimp forbade his victim to leave the house, and “beat her on the head or body with beer bottles and screwdrivers”. The pimp drove her to “work”, where he checked up on her several times a day and made her give up her earnings. The judge sentenced the pimp, a repeat offender, to four years in jail. He had done time for a “comparable crime” in the past, the verdict read, and had started working his next victim shortly after his release. According to detective Van Rijssel, girls are often blackmailed and brainwashed. "You might compare it to a cult, he said.

Pimps rarely face the maximum sentence of eight years. The number of acquittals runs relatively high compared to other types of sexual exploitation. In rape cases, between 13 and 23 percent of all suspects walk. Suspected pimps are acquitted 31 percent of the time.

As a consequence, it is often the girls, not their pimps, who are locked up, albeit for their own protection.

Caretakers encourage the girls to file formal complaints against their former pimps with the police, but Velthuizen said the solution to their problems lay elsewhere. They should be helped to help themselves. “Otherwise, another pimp will be right there waiting for them when they leave,” Velthuizen said.

Velthuizen held realistic expectations over the outcome of her work, she said. Studies have found most of these girls will suffer from a range of problems for the rest of their live, including teen pregnancy, unemployment and violent relationships. “For some girls, their pimp is just a passing phase in a miserable life,” Van Rijssel lamented.

Bandung 'Sexy Dancers' Could Face 15 Years in Jail: Police

Jakarta Globe

Bandung. Indonesian police arrested six people for the alleged performance of a "sexy dance" at a cafe in the early hours of New Year's Day, a police official said Tuesday.

Four female dancers, the dance group's leader and the cafe owner were detained, local police chief detective Arman Achdiat told AFP.

"We're charging them for preparing the dance and performing it in public, which is against morality," he added.

Achdiat did not give any details about the dance but said the dancers, who had performed at a live music cafe in Bandung, south of Jakarta, were in skimpy clothing.

"It could be described as sexy dancing. But more importantly, they were wearing minimal clothing and performing in public, which can stir desires," he said.

Under the country's anti-pornography law, the dancers could face up to 15 years in jail if convicted, he added.

The controversial law, passed in October last year, criminalizes all works and "bodily movements" deemed obscene and capable of violating public morality.

It has prompted protests across Indonesia. While the law is supposed to exempt cultural performances, critics fear it could threaten traditions ranging from temple statues on Hindu Bali island to penis sheaths on tribesmen in Christian and animist Papua province.

The law has been championed by Indonesia's Islamic parties and is being backed by the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Muslims make up roughly 90 percent of Indonesia's 234 million population, which also contains sizeable Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and Confucian minorities.

AFP

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Bellydancers to Shake Up Jakarta

The Jakarta Globe, Ade Mardiyati

Bellydance Jakarta, catering to women of all shapes and sizes, wants to put Indonesia on the map as a center for Middle Eastern dance. Aside from mastering the techniques, students also learn the history and tradition of the iconic dance. (Photo courtesy of the group)

Jakarta’s first center for Middle Eastern dance will present its fourth annual recital, “A Journey Through Shimmering Sands” on Sunday, in Pusat Perfilman Usmar Ismail theater.

Founded in 2006, Bellydance Jakarta has been a popular venue for women of all ages, backgrounds, shapes and sizes to learn the iconic Middle Eastern dance, along with the associated history and culture.

“There are many bellydance classes now at gyms, dance workshops and other places, but they don’t know what its all about,” Christine Yaven, founder of Bellydance Jakarta, said in an e-mail. “We are the only Middle Eastern dance center in Indonesia to perform authentic bellydance.”

Christine said many classes only teach sexy movements and pass it off as the real deal. At Bellydance Jakarta, students are not only taught the dance movements but also how to interpret the complex Arabic music rhythms as well as lyrics and cultural accuracy.

From there, she said, one can master the elegant, sophisticated and sensual dancing.

More than 60 women will be performing the famous Egyptian Candelabra, Melaya Leff from Alexandria and modern bellydance.

“The root of bellydance is folkloric Middle Eastern dance,” she said. “That’s why each year we try to incorporate at least one or two folkloric dances in our recital.”

This year’s exhibition will also present Hawaiian Hula and Bollywood dances, a collaboration between the school and another two groups, Hula Dance Jakarta and Bolly Groves. The event will also feature a fashion show to transport the audience back to the 1940s and 1950s.

Bellydance Jakarta’s last three showcases sold out an garnered an enthusiastic response from the audience, including the counsellor of the Egyptian Embassy.

This year’s event, however, will be somewhat different from past recitals, Christine said.

“Our students’ dancing skills [back then] were still quite rudimentary,” said Christine, who holds dance certificates from Egypt, the United States and Canada. “We also held the events in hotel ballrooms, so it was more a dinner and dance.

“This year, the students that have been with me for two years or more have really come into their own, and we decided to perform in a theater instead.”

She added that no guest dancers from the Middle East had been invited to perform.

“Bellydance Jakarta is fast gaining a reputation in South East Asia as an authentic, reputable Middle Eastern dance center,” she said. “ And my goal is to put Indonesia on the map in the bellydance world.”

The show took months of preparation to master the techniques. The students, Christine said, have volunteered time and energy to make this year’s show the best one yet.

“Our recitals are always to showcase our students’ hard work,” Christine said. “This is a celebration of how far they have come in their journey of Middle Eastern dance.”

A Journey Through Shimmering Sands
Sunday, 4 p.m to 7 p.m.

Pusat Perfilman
Usmar Ismail
(near Pasar Festival)
Jalan H R Rasuna Said
Kuningan, South Jakarta

Ticket prices:
Nefertiti: Rp 180,000
Cleopatra: Rp 150,000
Isis: Rp 120,000
Seats are assigned on a first-come first-serve basis

For more information,please call 021 3354 2239 or 0817 981 3346 or e-mail bellydancejakarta@yahoo.com.

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Indonesia Leads World in Internet Porn, Minister Says

The Jakarta Globe

Communications and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring. (JG Photo)

Indonesia has the largest number of people accessing pornographic Web sites in the world, Communications and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

“To date, Indonesia has the largest number of people who access porn sites,” said Tifatul, the former head of the Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

He did not provide any data to back up his comments.

Tifatul, an avid Internet user with his own Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well as a blog, said he was concerned that the Internet was being used by people in the country for little else besides accessing pornographic materials.

He said this concern had prompted him to launch a campaign aimed at teaching people how to use the Internet as an online source of useful information.

“We’re going to encourage safe and healthy Internet use, or Insan,” he said. Insan is an acronym made from the words Internet, sehat (healthy) and aman (safe).

Tifatul did not say how much money had been set aside to establish the program, which builds on an initiative introduced by the previous minister, Sofyan Djalil.

A spokesman for the ministry, Gatot Dewa Broto, also could not provide information on the number of Indonesians accessing Web pornography. He denied the Insan project signaled a government crackdown on pornography.

Antara, JG

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