August 19, 2025 | 02:22 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia’s new capital city, Nusantara Capital City (IKN), located in Penajam Paser Utara, East Kalimantan, has recently become a hotspot for commercial sex workers offering their services.
One of the main reasons is that the rates for sexual services in IKN are higher than in other areas of East Kalimantan.
Sari, a 25-year-old sex worker, said that for the past year she has often sought clients in IKN, whereas she used to look for clients only in Balikpapan or Samarinda. According to her, most of the clients in IKN are construction workers involved in building government facilities and supporting infrastructure.
"There are also civil servants who stop by," Sari told Tempo Magazine in its August 11–17, 2025 edition.
She recalled serving up to ten clients in a single day, with monthly earnings reaching Rp20 million when construction activity in IKN was at its peak before the Independence Day celebration on August 17, 2024.
Prostitution in IKN takes place around the clock. Sari said she often received clients even in the middle of working hours, while at night many visitors went to hotels on the outskirts of the government center.
Many sex workers in IKN use the MiChat application to sell their services, typically offering photos, catalogs, and locations. Rates usually start from Rp300,000.
However, Sari admitted that business has slowed recently because of the reduced number of workers in IKN projects. She said that at most she now serves four clients, since the development of IKN is no longer a government priority.
The Head of the IKN Authority, Basuki Hadimuljono, denied that prostitution was rampant in the area. "That’s not in IKN, but in Sepaku," Basuki said at the Parliament Complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on Tuesday, July 8, 2025.
Yet, some of his colleagues shared a different view. Tempo sources said that Basuki, the former Minister of Public Works and Housing, was actually concerned about the growing sex trade in IKN.
In mid-July 2025, the IKN Authority held a meeting with the Association of Sepaku Inn Entrepreneurs at the central government complex, attended by 40 inn owners.
According to Pujiyana Hugo, owner of Puncak IKN Inn, the meeting addressed the spread of prostitution. It was chaired by Deputy of Development Control Thomas Umbu Pati and Deputy of Social Affairs Alimuddin.
"We were asked to create strict rules for guests and install surveillance cameras," he said on Thursday, July 31, 2025.
Some inn owners, however, complained that such rules could hurt their businesses. They argued that sex workers and their clients still generated income amid uncertainty over the continuation of the capital relocation project.
The full report on the prostitution phenomenon in IKN can be read exclusively in Tempo Magazine here.
Francisca Christy Rosana contributed to the writing of this article.
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