Pornography industry surges in Surabaya

By Gin Kurniawan

SURABAYA (JP): A number of students in senior high school uniforms were seen crowding over a magazine in one corner of the Joyoboyo bus terminal. They had jointly bought the magazine from one of the newspaper boys there.

The magazine must have been very interesting to them because they seemed oblivious to their surroundings. Once in a while they giggled, looking left and right. They were all reading a pornographic magazine.

In the last few days, Surabaya has seen an influx of various kinds of porn magazines. The latest to hit the street is HOT, a magazine deliberately presenting sex-related stories. This magazine, which does not mention the name of the publisher nor the editorial board, comes with a label reading "Sex Reading Especially for Adults".

The appearance of erotic magazines like HOT has been a source of worry to the publishers here, because they have agreed to temporarily halt the publishing of material that could be construed as pornographic. Such reading material abounded in this city prior to this agreement.

However, these publishers were discouraged to continue with the publication of pornography after the police interrogated some chief editors responsible for the publication of erotic material. Police detained M. Tofiq, chief editor of GG tabloid, last July. Tofiq has been detained not in his capacity as chief editor of the tabloid, but as the person responsible for the publication of Desah (Moan) and Tangisan Hati (The Heart's Cry).

As he had never imagined he would be put in prison, this police detention gave him a terrible mental stress. That's why he vowed he would never again publish pornography.

One thing that Tofiq, who is still under city arrest, still cannot swallow is that not all publishers printing porn magazines have been charged. Many are still free.

"The police must be consistent. If they take action against one publisher for one offense, they must also do the same to other publishers committing the same offense," said Tjuk Suwarsono, deputy chairman of the Foundation of Press Consumers Institute here.

Regardless of the legal process, perceived as unfair to some people, Surabaya may be considered one of the centers for the publication of pornographic media. The dawn of the reform era, following Soeharto's fall in May 1998, has led to the publication of such media in Surabaya. In addition to Desah and Tangisan Hati, publications include Pengakuan (Confession), Gejolak (Flaming Desire), Harmonis (Harmonious), Kamasutra, KISS (Sex Stories of Celebrities) and Kisah Nyata (True Stories). In addition, there are also similar media publications from Jakarta, such as Nyata dan Gaib (True and Mystic), Nyata dan Mistery (True and Mysterious) and Kasus-Kasus (Cases). Finally, HOT appeared, presenting really "hot" reading material.

Fairly big profits are gained from the flourishing of erotic media publications. The demand is very high while the cost of production is very low. Undoubtedly, many people are attracted to run this lucrative business, especially now that it is not necessary for them to make a request for a press publication permit (SIUPP).

Some local media publishers have also published their own porn magazines or tabloids only to get more income for the company and employees.

Indeed, a newcomer needs capital of between Rp 5 million to 10 million and three people to start this kind of business. This business can generate hundreds of millions of rupiah within a month. Not surprisingly, some publishers here, like the GG tabloid publisher, make publications like this their money spinner.

The initial capital is needed to buy a computer with the capacity to access the Internet and make layouts. If you wish to minimize your expenses, you can simply access the Internet and do the layout on a computer rented on an hourly basis. As for the manuscripts to be published, you can buy 12 to 15 manuscripts for from Rp 1 million to Rp 1.5 million. No tiring reporting will be necessary.

The Internet plays a very important role in this kind of publication. It is from the Internet that really vulgar pictures may be taken. There are many sites which specially provide such pornographic pictures. And you can also collect vulgar sex stories from the Internet.

In the meantime, printing costs are also low. For a magazine the cost is between Rp 600 to Rp 700 a copy. The magazine can then be sold at between Rp 3,000 to Rp 5,000. So, the profit is quite big, although a publisher must also share this profit with his agents.

However, a publisher can easily expect to get a net profit of at least Rp 1,000 per copy. If a publisher prints 100,000 copies then the net profit will be Rp 100 million.

"If there is no ban, I can buy a house now," said Doni, 28, an erotic magazine publisher who has bought a new car thanks to this business.

To market a new product is also quite easy. As long as the stories are interesting and sexually arousing, a new product can sell well. Before pornography came to the public's attention, a publisher would usually advertise his publication in newspapers while the printing process was still going on, or right after the process had been completed. "Most important of all is that the title must smack of sex. Otherwise, it won't sell," said Doni.

A publisher that already has his own marketing network can easily ask their agents to sell his new product. As for newcomers in this business, they can take their products to the book market at Jl. Pahlawan here, where magazine and newspaper vendors will be ready to sell them.

Some of these vendors can provide capital on condition that they will handle the marketing themselves. Then the profit will be shared on a 50-50 basis.

The market for porn media is indeed very wide as it encompasses practically all regions in Indonesia.

"There is a good demand from outside Java but we cannot cope with it because of our limited printing run," said Sumadi, a book trader at Surabaya Book Market.

Amid tight mass media competition, the pornography business seems to be booming. Whatever size the print run is, all will be sold out.

Not surprisingly, many people are interested in running this business. Unfortunately, because of strong protests from the community, fleshy media publications disappeared from the market a short while ago. However, as the criticisms have died down, they have entered the market again. The reason is that the government has never imposed strict sanctions.