Pornography industry surges in Surabaya
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.