Crisis prompts prostitution explosion

Crisis prompts prostitution explosion

Suffering from the closure of many factories and businesses,
indications have shown the entrance of numerous newcomers into
the sex industry. But competition is tight. Jumping on the reform
bandwagon, more public pressure is being aimed at cleansing the
country of prostitution -- while men are buying sex at lower
rates. The Jakarta Post reporters Imanuddin, Ivy Susanti, K.
Basrie, Riyadi, Yogita Tahil Ramani, photographer Bayu Ismoyo and
correspondents in Medan, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Surabaya and
Ujungpandang took to the streets concerning the issue.

JAKARTA (JP): "Sshh, my real name is not Tati. I'm here
because the garment home industry in Kemanggisan (West Jakarta)
went bankrupt three months ago."

"Why am I here? It's simple. I need money for my 7-year-old
son and my parents," 32-year-old Larasati, also not her real
name, whispered to The Jakarta Post at her new workplace: a
massage parlor not far from the garment factory.

Like many masseuses, Larasati offers "extra services" to
clients at the negotiable price of Rp 50,000 (US$3.60).

Without the sex service, "I would only earn half of the Rp
10,000 hourly massage fee, while it's really exhausting," she
confided.

Working from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Larasati earns at least Rp
200,000 per week, equal to a month's salary at her previous job.

"But I still worry that my relatives or friends might find me
here," Larasati admitted.

Uncertainties over the country's security and future, which
has brought the rupiah to its knees and made businesspeople flee
the country, has also badly affected the sex business.

The May riots made things worse. A number of brothels and red-
light districts were looted and set on fire by mobs, who named
themselves reformists or moralists.

A renovated hotel in Tangerang was no longer allowed to
operate, after its management had spent a lot of money to rebuild
it. The hotel had been badly burned in the May riots' mayhem.

Some panderers in Java and Sumatra have closed their
businesses and let their women leave to find their own way.

Newcomers to the business, including those from villages, have
joined their sisters on the streets, in brothels, hotels, discos,
karaoke halls, malls, railway tracks and even cemeteries.

The Yogyakarta-based Indonesian Free Children Society says
Indonesia is now home to at least 650,000 prostitutes, including
150,000 registered sex workers.

"About 30 percent of this are children," foundation director
Mohammad Farid said Wednesday during a discussion in Surakarta.

By comparison, there were 72,000 registered prostitutes in
1995.

But many doubt these figures, estimating that the number has
skyrocketed this year.

Firman Lubis, chairman of Kusuma Buana, a foundation focusing
on health, said: "I reckon up to 10 women come from the villages
each day. I guess there are more than a 100 newcomers a month."

Bulungan

In Jakarta, streetwalkers have been seen in areas which have
not been known as red-light districts.

Waiting behind or near dimly lit trees, bus stops, newspaper
stands or small sidewalk shops, the prostitutes -- from teenagers
to those in their 30s -- are noticeable in their attractive
outfits and roaming eyes.

In the Bulungan area, close to the popular Blok M shopping
center, a group of teenage-looking girls can be found gathered
around cigarette kiosks.

Hendra, owner of one of the kiosks, said the girls at his
kiosk "could be taken out", but "you need a little bit of spirit
to deal with them because some of the girls here are quite
choosy."

He said most Bulungan girls were easy-going, "especially
during this crisis, when orders are decreasing".

Prices vary. A Bulungan prostitute, for instance, would agree
to a price of Rp 100,000 or Rp 200,000 for a "short time".

"Ade", 21, who frequents a famous discotheque in Tanah Abang,
Central Jakarta, charges US$100 for a short time (no less than
one hour). "Otherwise, the bule (foreigners) would find
Indonesian girls as cheap as peanuts," said slim-built Ade.

Prostitutes at hotels, and parlors fronting as karaoke bars
and night clubs, have also hiked their prices in a bid to compete
with the rising rate of the greenback against the rupiah.

A hotel in the Blok M area, South Jakarta, for instance, has
doubled is rent to Rp 225,000 for short time.

Ade claims she could still get at least four clients, mostly
foreigners, per week.

Lower-class street prostitutes have to compete harder. Having
to face the cold midnight wind and the police, they said they
only earned between Rp 5,000 and Rp 50,000 per night, at most.

Experts, including sociologists, fear a rise in sexually
transmitted diseases, such as HIV, syphilis and gonorrhea, with
the expected increase of prostitutes. They said the prostitutes
would not likely insist on the use of condoms during such a
competitive time.

Public health expert Soebowo, from Diponegoro University,
Semarang, said more and more young people would suffer from
sexually transmitted diseases, especially with the increase of
prostitutes.

Streetwalking is prohibited under numerous city bylaws but
there is no law in Indonesia that prohibits the sale of sexual
services.

The criminal law only prosecutes those who facilitate illegal
activities as defined in the Criminal Code. Article 296 states
that those whose actions or attitudes intentionally lead to or
facilitate illegal sexual activities with other people will be
jailed for one year and four months or fined Rp 15,000.

Article 297 states that trade in women or in minors will incur
a maximum penalty of six years imprisonment, whereas article 506
states that a panderer, deriving profit from the prostitution of
women, will be jailed for three months.

Sociologists have urged the government many times to control
the spread of prostitution as soon as possible, before conditions
become worse.

Firman Lubis said: "We are dealing with a very basic problem,
the economy. Most of us reject prostitution. But to close down
brothels would not wipe out the business."

The situation has already become a dilemma for both the public
and the sex workers.

A classic song by veteran composer/singer Titiek Puspa may
express the most fitting description of prostitutes, who locals
also call kupu-kupu malam (night butterflies).

Part of the song Kupu-Kupu Malam goes: "There are those who
hate her, there are those who need her, there are also those who
kneel begging her, and those who cruelly torment her.

"Let things happen, what she knows is that God loves His
followers, what she knows is that she keeps her soul alive."
(team)