'Local tastes' driving influx of foreign hookers

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesians' appetite for adventure with foreign prostitutes and the perception that people here are getting richer is supporting the business of providing foreign women for sexual services, a criminologist has said.

Academic Adrianus Meliala, together with a police source, said over the weekend that the business was becoming increasingly organized.

Responding to the recent arrests of foreign women here, Adrianus said not all of the women were what they seemed.

Sometimes Indonesian customers were cheated by providers who preyed on the men's wish to enjoy foreign women, by offering fake foreigners.

Chinese women from Singkawang, West Kalimantan, he said were introduced to customers as singers from Taiwan, who could be 'booked.'

"They are taught Mandarin and act like women from China or Taiwan ... That way they fetch a higher price," Adrianus said.

Adrianus said the demand for foreign women was matched by a perception of foreigners in the business that Indonesians are becoming richer.

"Foreigners look at Indonesia as a fast-growing and rich developing country, as a golden business opportunity, including for the prostitution business," he said,

Undercover officers found a foreign karaoke bar worker was paid at least Rp 2.5 million (US$1,020) a month while locals were paid less. The guides could also be booked for an average of Rp 35,000 per hour for at least three to five hours.

If an Indonesian woman worked as a prostitute in Malaysia, she would also be paid higher than locals, Adrianus said.

Police and immigration officers arrested three women from the Republic of China and eastern Europe working as karaoke bar workers and call girls at an entertainment center in Surabaya, East Java, last month.

Three other women with passports from the Republic of China were arrested for allegedly working as prostitutes at the Sydney 2000 entertainment center on Jl. Mangga Besar, West Jakarta. They had business visas from the Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand.

They also had licenses from the Ministry of Manpower to work as singers in major cities, including Palembang, Medan and Surabaya.

Last week, 11 women from Taiwan were also arrested at the Raja Mas entertainment center in West Jakarta.

All charges in the arrests were immigration violations, specifically the abuse of tourist visas to earn money by working as karaoke bar workers, or call girls.

However no prostitution charges were laid.

A source at the City Police's Foreigner Supervision unit said that prostitution would be difficult to prove. "Because the evidence is very hard to get. For example, no customers want to give evidence against a prostitute," he said.

The criminal code does not include prohibition against people working as prostitutes, it only bans people from working as pimps.

The police officer also said that the prostitution business, particularly involving foreign women, had become very well organized.

"There are different people to arrange different aspects of this illegal business, including the finance, travel, security, accommodation, jobs, and booking orders," he said.

A man identified as Asanuddin, who was arrested with the 11 Taiwanese, confessed he had cooperated with the owner of the Raja Mas entertainment center, another man who arranged the transportation and security of the women, and the one who recruited them.

Asanuddin organized a dormitory on Jl. Pangeran Jayakarta Raya Block 46/5B, West Jakarta, specially set up to accommodate the foreign women during their stay here.

Adrianus added it was not easy to eliminate the business because many officials were paid off.

He said an officer in charge of a police precinct in West Jakarta, the site of many entertainment centers, would be automatically expected by his superiors and local city authorities to deliver money to them regularly.

"Only an officer, who has never been involved with the people would be able to seriously fight those in the business," he said.

The extent of the prostitution business here was highlighted in a report launched Friday by the International Labor Organization and the Ministry of Manpower. It revealed the business in the capital was worth at least Rp 7.2 trillion a year as long ago as 1993.

It did not give any more recent figures. (cst)