A quick look at Yogyakarta's sex business

A quick look at Yogyakarta's sex business

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Susi is an unlicensed tourist guide who has
been operating in the Sosrowijayan area here for more than a
year. Unlike most guides, she's prepared for sexual engagement
with her guests.

Susi's clients are Westerners she finds in local bars and
entertainment centers in the city. A divorcee with a seven-year-
old boy, Susi says that she has no plan for the future, stating
that she ended up living her current life to make ends meet.

"Deep in my heart I don't know why I am doing this," she
confessed.

Mia is another case. Curiosity drove her to have a sexual
encounter with a visiting Westerner. This curiosity continued
and led her into relations with others and was the main reason
she decided to become a guide.

"All my parents know about me is that I have a job," she said,
adding that her older sister is also in the profession.

Mia, the youngest child in her family, said that she could
earn some Rp 50,000 (US$23.25) a day, excluding income from the
escort service which could last for months.

The woman said that she is engaged to a Dutch man, who used to
be her client, and is waiting until she is ready for marriage.

"Ten of my friends have got married and left for their
husbands' countries," she added.

Mia said she wanted to forget the past and start a new life,
but admitted that she was still doubtful whether the future would
be better.

"I don't know why I am still confused and feel insecure," she
said.

Susi and Mia are among hundreds of young women in Yogyakarta
involved in the sex business and catering to the needs of
tourists, local men and university students.

Economic hardship is cited as the major reason why these women
fall into prostitution.

According to the latest data issued by the Yogyakarta office
of the Ministry of Social Services, there are a total of 156
prostitutes and 26 pimps localized in the Sanggrahan red-light
district.

Hermani Sukarsono, spokesman for the Yogyakarta
administration, told The Jakarta Post that in addition to
Sanggrahan, there are other areas in the city where covert
prostitution occurs, which also involves transvestites.

"It's difficult to record their numbers," he said, adding that
many of the prostitutes come from areas outside of Yogyakarta.

Sex transactions in the city take place in well-known areas
such as Babarsari, where boarding houses stand in rows, Pasar
Kembang and Alun-Alun, or the town square, and Sosrowijayan, the
place for brothels.

Flower Market

In Pasar Kembang, literally translated as Flower Market,
located just across from Yogyakarta's railway station, young
women in flashy dresses and bold make-up line up when night
starts to fall.

For Rp 10,000, ($4.65) one can employ their services with an
extra charge of Rp 2,500 ($1.16) to rent a room in the alleys of
Sosrowijayan. Men stand in front of the alleys, offering
passersby rooms or women each night.

Customers include university students who may come by on their
motorbikes.

In Jlagran, a little further from the area, prostitutes offer
their services to customers like becak drivers, bus conductors or
construction workers, for Rp 3,000 ($1.39).

A number of hotels in the busy Malioboro are also known to be
places where high-class prostitutes charge customers some Rp
150,000 ($69.76) for a short session.

Elly (not her real name) the daughter of the owner of a
brothel near Malioboro, said that the prostitutes operating there
could be booked for between Rp 100,000 ($46.51) for a short
session and Rp 300,000 ($139.53) for a long session.

"A short session lasts for three hours while the long one
will be for 12 hours with the customers allowed to take the
prostitutes out," she said.

Several boarding houses scattered around Yogyakarta are also
known for their sex business.

Ali, a tourist guide, said it took a little while to get the
girls living in the boarding houses to make dates.

"Once we know each other well, we don't have to give them
money," he said.

A woman who runs a boarding house near the Gembira Loka Zoo
told the Post that prostitutes used to be the occupants of her
rooms.

"They are all gone though. They made a mess here and were
difficult to handle, so I kicked them out," she said while
puffing on a cigarette.

Ali said he used to receive cash from bringing the girls
living in the woman's boarding house to the customers. He used to
live in the same boarding house with his girlfriend.

Sex transactions also take place in discotheques. At a
discotheque in Malioboro, teenaged girls hang around looking for
men who need company while at another discotheque not far from
the area, gay prostitutes melt with the gay men who frequent the
entertainment center.

"My parents know that I am gay," said Budi (not his real
name). "My mother cried when I told her so."

AIDS

Budi idolizes men who are in their 30s and says that he
interacts with them for "fun." He discloses that many of his
customers are Westerners and says that he is ready to take part
in any kind of homosexual sex styles they want.

He said that he is not afraid of the risk of getting the AIDS
(Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). "I use protection."

Desti Murdjiana, a project coordinator and counselor on AIDS
for the Lentera organization, said that the sex business in
Yogyakarta does not seem to be declining despite the fear of
AIDS.

A number of prostitutes in Sanggrahan have said that they
believe they will not get infected with the Human
Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) which causes AIDS as long as they
did not accept Westerners as clients.

Lentera is the Yogyakarta-based organization dealing with the
prevention of the spread of AIDS. The organization's activities
include promoting safer sex to prostitutes, gay men,
transvestites, university students and housewives.

Desti says that Lentera plans to go into Sanggrahan and
several massage parlors, where sexual activities often take
place, to distribute correct information about HIV and AIDS.

It is not unusual for the massage parlor employees to arouse
their customers' sexual desire in order to gain extra income. The
notices put by the managements which prohibits them from
"seducing" customers does not seem to stop the sexual activity.

Desti said that the program is aimed at helping the sex
workers in protecting themselves from getting infected with HIV
from their customers.

Rebeka Harsono, secretary-general of the Forum Perempuan Cut
Nyak Dien, a non-governmental support organization for women,
believes that it is high time the government intensified its
efforts to campaign against AIDS among the sex workers,
especially those whose customers are from the low-income
brackets.

She said that men should also be included as targets of the
campaign. This means that in the end sex workers would also have
the "bargaining power", enabling them to ask their customers to
use condoms in order to avoid being infected with the virus, she
added.

Rebeka explains that the prostitutes operating in Jlagran, for
instance, are in need of correct information about sexually-
transmitted diseases, including AIDS, to protect themselves. She
said that the women who are under the control of gangsters
lurking in the area are frequently brought by those men to the
doctor for an injection.

"The women don't even know what kind of injection is given to
them," she said. "They call it `health injection'" she added.

Lewa Pardomuan and
D. Iswandono