Most prostitutes hail from outside Jakarta: Survey
JAKARTA (JP): A survey revealed that almost all the prostitutes operating here hail from outside Jakarta and were engaged in the world's oldest profession before moving to the capital.
"This discovery refutes the allegation that it is Jakarta that makes them prostitutes," Roekanda, head of the Municipal Social Office, told reporters at a press conference here yesterday.
The survey, which took six months to complete, was jointly conducted by Pos Kota daily and the municipal social office under the auspices of Governor Surjadi Soedirdja.
Five hundred prostitutes responded to the survey, 42.4 percent of whom hail from West Java, 40.2 percent from Central Java, 13.8 percent from East Java, two percent from outside Java, 1.4 percent from Jakarta, and 0.2 percent from Yogyakarta.
By age, 45.4 percent of the prostitutes are between 20 and 24, 33.4 percent between 25 and 29, and 6.4 percent between 15 and 19.
According to records at the social office, there are around 9,400 prostitutes in Jakarta, including those operating on the streets and at star-rated hotels.
On average a prostitute spends half their income on personal needs, 25 percent for helping their families in their hometowns, and another 25 percent for miscellaneous expenditures, such as security fees for toughs and payoffs to their pimps, added Roekanda.
A low-class prostitute earns between Rp 100,000 (US$46.5) and Rp 700,000 ($326) per month, while the high-class ones between Rp 1 million ($465) and Rp 3 million ($1,397).
During the press conference Roekanda was accompanied by Sukri Burhan, Pos Kota's deputy general manager.
Roekanda hailed the survey as the most comprehensive ever conducted on Jakarta prostitutes. So much so that the municipality will base its prostitute rehabilitation program on results of the just-concluded survey, he said.
Before this survey many others had been conducted on Jakarta prostitution by either the municipality or academic institutions, including the University of Indonesia, but none of them studied the phenomenon as comprehensively as the two agencies, said Roekanda
Aside from 500 high and low-class prostitutes, the survey also queried 25 former prostitutes, 25 pimps, and 50 tokoh masyarakat (respectable citizens) on the issue.
"The study was not restricted to prostitution in Jakarta and tried to track down why the women became prostitutes," he said.
Support
An "interesting" fact uncovered by the survey was that a large percentage of the prostitutes' parents supported their entry into the profession.
"Some 33 percent of the prostitutes have parents who are well aware of their daughters' profession. Some parents travel to Jakarta with their daughters and fetch them from the brothels themselves," said Roekanda.
This, said Roekanda, indicates that some segments of society consider the world's oldest profession "something natural and nothing to be ashamed of."
The survey further revealed that 61 percent of the prostitutes willingly took up the profession for economic reasons, 18 percent because they were hurt by either former husbands or boyfriends, eight percent after being trapped by someone and finding themselves unable to free themselves afterward, while another six percent said they became prostitutes after being persuaded by their peers.
Some prostitutes move every two months from one place to another so that "they may look like a newcomer." Some others work on a contract basis as it is applied at two high-class brothels respectively in the Prapanca area, South Jakarta and the Kartini area, Central Jakarta.
According to the survey, 42 percent of the tokoh masyarakat questioned asked the city administration to ban prostitution, 42 percentage asked not to legalize it but handle it gradually and responsibly, 12 percent asked to legalize it and four percent asked not to handle it because it is difficult to eliminate. (jsk)