Prostitution ring blamed for HIV spread on Batam Island

Prostitution ring blamed for HIV spread on Batam Island

Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam, Riau

Thriving prostitution has become a source of the spread of HIV in
Batam, a fast growing industrial estate island close to Singapore
and a magnet for economic migrants from all over Indonesia.

The Batam local administration has officially stated 112 cases
of people with HIV/AIDS (PWAs) in 2002, twenty of which have
since passed away.

No comparative figures were available. But the numbers could
just be the tip of an iceberg, as officials admitted to being
unaware of the true extent of the HIV spread on the island of
520,000 people, said the head of Batam's health office, Puardi
Djarius last week.

He said the general assumption was that each PWA could spread
the virus to 10 partners or other people with whom he/she had a
relationship, meaning the actual number of HIV cases in Batam
could be much, much higher.

"This is a matter of individual lifestyle, we can't ban people
from changing their partners," Puardi said.

Batam's economy is one of the fastest growing in Indonesia.

Its designation as an industrial island offers various
business incentives, which generate thousands of new jobs as
investors, mainly from Singapore, set up their plants here.

Thousands of migrants from throughout impoverished areas of
Indonesia have since come to the island in search of work. Along
with that influx, many of whom are husbands away from their
wives, however, also comes a thriving sex industry.

"HIV is spread here mainly by sex workers," said Evianora
Azwar of the Family Health Partner Foundation (YMKK).

Batam's health office data showed the island had official data
of some 7,000 prostitutes -- those who are legally registered and
work in government regulated establishments. However, the actual
number could be closer to 20,000, or some 13,000 illegal ones,
according to the foundation. Evianora said many sex workers were
part of an illegal, organized prostitution ring, and many
eventually returned to their home areas in Java or elsewhere
often not even knowing they had contracted HIV.

"If this continues I fear Batam could turn into a source of
HIV spread for most of western Indonesia."

She added that many of the prostitutes' clients were visiting
Singaporeans on the island. They find sex workers in places like
karaoke bars, massage parlors and various gambling dens.

She said most sex workers were between the age of 17 and 30,
and charged from Rp 280,000 (about US$31) to Rp 500,000 for each
"date".

But the ease with which visitors can find commercial sex
workers in Batam is not balanced by adequate measures to prevent
sexually transmitted diseases, Evianora said.

Registered sex workers were officially subject to medical
check-ups once a month, she said, but did not say whether the
illegal sex workers did the same.

"Those who are diagnosed with HIV are merely fired by the
establishment that employs them and sent back to their home areas
(often Java)," she said.

The best way to slow the spread of HIV in Batam, she added,
was for the local administration and police to combat illegal
prostitution and impose tougher rules on the legal ones.

"The government, in this case, the social office and the
police and the local administration need to be aware of this
problem."