Indramayu exports its best commodity: 'Mangoes'<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan and Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post,
\nIndramayu, West Java<\/p>\n
Indramayu regency is famous for its delicious mangga (mangoes),
\nbut the word is also a euphemism for prostitute, which the
\nregency is also well-known for.<\/p>\n
Ask any sex worker in Jakarta's red light district of Mangga
\nBesar or Batam island in Riau where they come from, and the
\nlikely response will be Indramayu, the northern part of Central
\nJava.<\/p>\n
"Mangga from Indramayu tastes good, mas (elder brother)," a
\nlocal social observer, Dibyo, told The Jakarta Post recently,
\nreferring to its sex workers.<\/p>\n
"Girls from neighboring regencies like to say they come from
\nIndramayu so they can charge more."<\/p>\n
And the Indramayu mango has gone international.<\/p>\n
Over the past three years, teenage girls from Indramayu --
\nalong with girls from other areas, such as Bandung, Karawang and
\nBali -- have become sex workers in Japan under the pretext of
\ntraditional dancers.<\/p>\n
Japan is a new destination for them. Previously, the girls
\nmostly went on to Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea and the
\nMiddle East.<\/p>\n
An informal leader in Gabus Wetan district, who requested
\nanonymity, said the "traditional dance mission" had also reached
\nAustralia.<\/p>\n
He said Jakarta-based recruitment agencies lure girls from the
\nwestern Indramayu districts of Bongas, Gabus Wetan, Anjatan and
\nKarangsinom.<\/p>\n
The districts, where there are no paved roads and robbers roam
\nat night, are known as the home of sex workers.<\/p>\n
One estimate said that more than 1,000 girls had been sent to
\nJapan from Indramayu over the last three years.<\/p>\n
Firdaus from PT Jaya Musikindo, a company that is licensed to
\nsend girls to Japan to work as dancers, said illegal companies
\nsent sex workers.<\/p>\n
"That is the practice of illegal firms, but not by us," he
\nsaid, while refusing to elaborate.<\/p>\n
Several girls just returning from Japan said that they had
\nworked as dancers in restaurants or night clubs in Japan's
\nprovince of Miyagi.<\/p>\n
Matsu, 20, said she received one-month training in Balinese,
\nJavanese and Jaipongan (popular West Javanese dance) dancing
\nbefore leaving for Japan.<\/p>\n
"I went there six months ago with 11 girls. I started my work
\nat 6 p.m. and finished at midnight. I danced, served meals and
\naccompanied our Japanese guests.<\/p>\n
"But if we slept with anyone there for money, the restaurant
\nowner would cut our salaries and send us home," said Matsu, with
\na toss of her highlighted hair.<\/p>\n
Matsu, who is from the Bongas district, said she stayed with
\nother dancers in a hall provided free of charge by the Japanese
\nowner and that she had brought home about Rp 30 million
\n(US$3,300) for her family and would go back in September.<\/p>\n
"I want to help my father, who is only a farmer," she said at
\nher home, which has new brick walls and ceramic floor tiles.<\/p>\n
Asked whether she was given a valid work visa, Matsu said she
\nhad been on a tourist visa, implying that she was an illegal
\nworker.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Elli, 19, a dancer from Gabus Wetan district, said
\nshe had heard that there were dancers from Indramayu who worked
\nas prostitutes in Japan.<\/p>\n
"But that's difficult to say. I only worked there as a dancer
\nand sat with visitors for a drink," she said in a somewhat naive
\ntone.<\/p>\n
She said with only three months training prior to her
\ndeparture, she learned how to dance a little of the Balinese and
\nJavanese dances. She said she earned Rp 50 million in Japan from
\nher six months salary, excluding tips.<\/p>\n
The Japanese Embassy's first secretary on information and
\ncultural affairs, Shigeya Aoyama, told the Post in Jakarta that
\nthe embassy would launch an investigation into the alleged misuse
\nof visas related to the reported sex trade.<\/p>\n
"It is impossible for us to grant cultural visas while they
\nare working there," he said.<\/p>\n
Aoyama also denied rumors that the embassy had sent two of its
\nstaff members to Indramayu to investigate the reports on the sex
\ntrade.<\/p>\n
Elli said she hoped to go back to Japan to earn more money to
\nbuild her own house.<\/p>\n
Matsu and Elli may have not been sex workers, but they
\nrealized that their jobs came close to the practice.<\/p>\n
Dibyo said that the traditional dance mission was the latest
\nploy to cover up sex workers' activities.<\/p>\n
"I know that some girls worked illegally in other countries as
\nsex workers. But this dance mission is a new one," he said.<\/p>\n
Teguh Budiono, a social activist at the DKT Indonesia research
\ninstitute, said at a seminar in Jakarta last week that Indramayu
\ngirls had various reasons to become prostitutes.<\/p>\n
"The main reasons are poverty, a high divorce rate, early
\nmarriage, a low level of education and a permissive culture," he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He said that although 67 percent of the Indramayu paddy fields
\nhad a good irrigation system, allowing for three harvests a year,
\npoverty in Indramayu could not be reduced because many farmers
\nwere not owners of the fields.<\/p>\n
Regarding the high divorce rate, he said, it meant that women
\nin Indramayu were skilled at charming men.<\/p>\n
"Women are proud to say they have married several times," he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
A quarter of the 20,600 marriages performed in Indramayu in
\n2000 ended up in divorce, putting the regency at the top of the
\nlist for divorces in West Java.<\/p>\n
The people of Indramayu believe that a daughter is a gift
\nwhile a son is a disaster, as a daughter can work in big cities
\nand bring fortune to a family, but a son will only become a
\nfarmer.<\/p>\n
The Indramayu administration has tried correcting the problem
\nby promoting good morality and establishing new schools to
\nincrease the number of job opportunities, but the sex trade
\nremains rampant.<\/p>\n
The image that Indramayu is the major supplier of mangoes may
\nnot easily be forgotten.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indramayu-exports-its-best-commodity-mangoes-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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