Prostitution increasingly lucrative in Indonesia

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.