Prostitution increasingly lucrative in Indonesia

By R. Fadjri

YOGYAKARTA (JP): One of the oldest professions, prostitution, continues to grow in Indonesia and there seems no way to stop the business or reduce the number of sex workers.

Although prostitution can be categorized as a form of slavery, it provides a livelihood not only for the prostitute and her children and family, but also for the pimp, the security men and parking attendants in the area. Many parties profit from it and obviously want to maintain the business, Koentjoro, a researcher from the School of Psychology at Gadjah Mada University said.

Prostitution is acceptable in some regions in Java, West Kalimantan and North Sulawesi, which are known as suppliers of prostitutes.

It is not surprising that Koentjoro found that a prostitute could feed 18 extended family members. Koentjoro said there was a saying that a daughter was like a rice field. "The more beautiful the daughter is the vaster the rice field is." In a Central Java village, a daughter is considered as dhuwit gedhe (big money).

Certain villages in West Java are even proud about their reputation as suppliers of prostitutes. Koentjoro's research showed that prostitution in Indramayu, West Java, was closely related to the old tradition of concubinage in the Cirebon Sultanate. Of the 19 districts in Indramayu, seven supply prostitutes. Though nowadays the issue is less clear, the Indramayu and Cirebon Sultanate case resembles Wonogiri's relationship with Kraton Surakarta in Central Java. The practice of marriage by contract (mu'tah) is common among people in one of the villages in the area. "It is not strange that concubinage and cohabitation are frequent in the regions which provide prostitutes," says Koentjoro.

According to Koentjoro, a region develops into supplier for the following reasons: imitation, materialism, marriage values and permissiveness.

A woman who has succeeded economically as a result of prostitution will likely become a kind of model for the community. The success may lie in her achievement to amass money as shown in the construction of a house and the possession of luxurious furniture, or in a marriage to a prominent person. In a Central Java village, for example, there was a prostitute who married a businessman in Jakarta. The prostitute's family contributed Rp 15 million for the construction of a grand mosque in the village.

The prostitute's generosity has been made a model by the village community, and serves as a reference for certain parents. It is therefore not uncommon for some parents to want their own daughters to be like her. Difficulty in finding jobs makes parents lazy and they may take a short cut by marrying their daughters at a very early age. Such marriages often end up in divorce.

These very young divorcees are the easy targets for people who make money from looking for new prostitutes. The girls' parents will hand over their daughters to these people for between Rp 500,000 and Rp 2 million each.

Koentjoro's research indicated that the communities in the villages categorized as prostitute suppliers have high materialistic aspirations. We may see a typically white Spanish- style house with a satellite antenna while the village has no electricity. The house, which is strikingly different from the others, belongs to a successful prostitute.

Koentjoro said that in Indramayu, as well as some other West Java regions, people say "the more frequent a woman gets married and is divorced, the prouder she will be." The frequent marriages show that the women are highly wanted, therefore, she enjoys a high social status in the region. It is not surprising that many marriages in the regions end in divorce.

The results of Koentjoro's research, presented last April, also showed that many husbands didn't object to staying in the village and taking care of the children in a luxurious house funded by his wife working as a prostitute in the city. "This shows the husband's permissive attitude toward the marriage institution, which contributes to the growth of prostitution," said Koentjoro.

Koentjoro is also believes that the community's permissiveness toward prostitution is the result of the prostitutes' financial contribution to their village. They greatly contribute to development activities and they are often asked to give financial aid for certain village activities.

"At Idul Fitri festivities, a successful prostitute returned to our village with a minibus fully loaded with dress material, sarongs and clothes to be distributed to the community," said Sugiono (not his real name), a village chief.

Each supply region has its own operation site. Prostitutes from Indramayu go to Jakarta, Bandung, Tanjung Pinang, Bukit Girang and Samyong in Batam. Those from Central Java go to Semarang, Ambarawa, Solo, Cilacap and Jakarta. The ones from the northern part of East Java opt for Jakarta, Surabaya and also Sulawesi. "Generally, the prostitutes flock together according to their region of origin," said Koentjoro.

Most prostitutes are women, but child prostitution and homosexual prostitution are also common.

Child prostitution is generally found at the centers of tourism in Asia to serve the sexual needs of pedophiles from the USA, Australia, Germany, France, Sweden, New Zealand and Japan. Child prostitution in Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Taiwan is combated by an international organization called End of Child Prostitution in Asia Tourism.

There are no definite figures on child prostitution in Indonesia. Considering that Indonesia relies on tourism as a source of foreign exchange earnings, the time has come to be aware of the danger faced by the nation's children.

Koentjoro said homosexual prostitution in Indonesia obtained legitimacy through the case of warok in Ponorogo, East Java. Warok is a man who has supernatural power. In order to obtain such power a warok has to refrain from heterosexual relationships. Therefore, to quell his sexual drive he has sex with other men.

"At least, warok has contributed in creating a permissive atmosphere toward diversion of sexual behavior," said Koentjoro, adding that such sexual behavior is not caused by gender disfunction.

If homosexuality is seen as a lifestyle, and not a gender disfunction, it is not impossible that Indonesians will adopt this lifestyle like they do western lifestyles. There are many homosexual Westerners who become the models of some local people. These local people are proud that they can socialize with white people and see this as a sign of progress.

"It is not surprising that Bali is known as a heaven for the lesbians and gays of the world," said Koentjoro.

He said homosexual prostitution has now expanded to a number of tourism areas in Indonesia.

Prostitution has become a lucrative business and will likely develop. Considering the negative aspects of the occupation, especially the spread of venereal diseases and AIDS, serious attention should be taken to deal with the matter, Koentjoro concluded.