Jakarta, home to grey-area girls

Fabio Scarpello, Contributor, Jakarta

While sipping a drink in some bars in Jakarta, you'll wonder. It is like choosing from a well-assorted menu. Girls are everywhere. From childish smiles, to captivating sultry looks with the addition of staged sensual dances. Everything is on the list, everything is on offer.

With calculated certainty within minutes someone approaches you. The usual set of questions: "What is your name...where do you come from... how long are you staying in Jakarta..." opens the door to the world of the gray-area girls.

This is a world where there are no rules but only guidelines and where the exception often becomes the norm. Little is said but everything is implied. Rates aren't fixed but some sort of payment is expected. Feelings seem out of the question but the hope of love is always present. Money is what they are after, but they can also be extremely generous.

Even their smiles and confident behavior are often deceptive. Loneliness and low self-esteem are the only common denominator, in a world were everybody is competing with everybody else.

But grouping them in one big bunch is limiting. The game is the same, but there are different ways of playing it. Different degrees of pragmatism, closely connected with the girls' age, creates some sort of layers -- at least three. These are by no means rigid; some girls move from one to the next within a short time or depending on the situation. As fluid as they may be, layers do exist, and differences are noticeable.

Hanna is 32 years old. She has been in the business for over 10 years. Her approach is very business-like. She is focused on making money and saving for the future. In her world the clock ticks fast.

Hanna belongs to the first layer. She sleeps with any paying customer regardless of age, color, religion or looks. Rates for first-layer girls vary, depending on the length of time spent with the customer and the meeting point.

A customer picked up in one of the main hotel bars is expected to pay more than someone met in a club. The minimum rate starts at around Rp 300,000 (US$32.6) -- for a couple of hours -- and goes up to US$150.

Girls have their usual spot. Age and looks tend to play a part in natural selection, with the most attractive gaining the best locations including bars at star-rated hotels.

Jenny, Lulu, Yanti and Louise belong to the second layer. Bule (Westerners) are their only target. Locals or even black men are not considered. While the "one night stand" still happens, their preferred approach is different. What they are after is a pseudo- relationship with tourists for the length of their stay.

During such a time they get looked after, and a sort of "gift" is expected at the end. But the lingering hope of something permanent at times inverts the rules of the game. It isn't uncommon that a nice but poor bule is the target of their attention, with the girl paying for the entertainment.

Either way the dream of a better life is the driving force.

Some do manage to get married. Debby is on her way to Holland while Shanty is due to marry in September with London as her new home. Their exotic looks proved too much to leave behind for the love-struck Westerners.

While these are the exceptions the majority jump from one "boyfriend" to the next, and often, with time, disillusionment leads to a permanent move to the first layer.

Anita is only 17. She has had a boyfriend for the past three years. To her it is irrelevant that he is a 53-year-old businessman, with a wife and two children back in Holland. He pays for her and supports her family and this is what really matters.

Anita is a classic example of the third layer. Girls such as her are preyed upon by bule. An element of pedophilia is always present, with these people pursuing fantasies that in their own country would lead to extensive prison sentences and social ostracism.

Anita spends a week a month with her boyfriend. Money keeps on coming in and the hope of future security.

In reality, it is never going to happen and the only doubt is how long it is going to last.

Jane was 14 when she met her "prince" in a shopping mall; a handsome 35-year-old Briton stationed in Jakarta. They lived together but two years later, with two forced abortions behind her, he left, without a word or a promise.

For her a move to the second layer was automatic, from here the future offers little, maybe only hope.

Notes: All the girls names above were not their real names to protect their privacy.