Prostitution spoils tourists' image of paradise Bali

Prostitution spoils tourists' image of paradise Bali

By Putu Wirata

DENPASAR (JP): A booming sex industry fueled by the economic
crisis is threatening to put in the shade Bali's vaunted
"cultural tourism" campaign.

With little fanfare, sex tourism has developed over time, both
openly and furtively, promoted by entertainment businesses that
are fronts for prostitution.

Kerti Praja Foundation, which deals with social welfare, found
3,112 prostitutes in Badung regency last year. Their haunts were
discos and karaoke lounges.

The foundation also noted that hoodlums controlled
prostitution practices in the beach town of Kuta.

"Prostitution is a fact here in Bali," said Nyoman Kadra, 27,
a tour guide for Japanese tourists in Denpasar. "The authorities
will find it increasingly difficult to deal with it because it is
disguised by legal businesses."

He claims he often takes Japanese tourists to visit brothels
in Sanur, Denpasar, Nusa Dua and Kuta. The prostitution dens are
generally disguised as karaoke halls or discotheques.

It is an open secret that a number of karaoke lounges and
discotheques employ prostitutes who pose as attendants or
entertainers.

In discotheques, the women mingle with visitors on the dance
floor.

Sanur and Kuta discotheques are best known as centers for the
flesh trade.

"If you need a companion, I can help you," is the typical
offer made by a discotheque attendant under the dazzling flashes
of lights.

A guest may pick up a woman to accompany him drinking or to
have sex with him at his hotel for between Rp 150,000 (about
US$16) and Rp 300,000 for a "short session" lasting about two
hours.

Kerti Praja said Badung recorded among the most rapid growth
in prostitution.

In 1997, there were about 1,200 prostitutes but the number
almost tripled last year. Activists say that the actual number
could be a lot higher because many "good" housewives and students
are known to have worked as prostitutes.

"Many foreigners come to Bali for sex," said a tourist guide.
"They think that Bali is just like Thailand where they can easily
get women to sleep with them."

Opposition

Although the flesh business is covert in many places, it is
not difficult to find "escorts".

"Prostitution here is difficult to eradicate because it is
covert and the authorities have to have hard evidence to act
against it," says Mohammad S. Gawi, a Nusa Tenggara daily
reporter who has done investigative reports on prostitution on
the resort island.

Hartono Setiawan, probably the best known pimp in the country
who runs high-class brothels in several major cities, is one man
believed to have openly conducted prostitution activities in
Bali.

A couple of years ago, he stirred controversy by building a
glittery amusement center named Planet Bali, with a professed aim
to help promote tourism in the province after he publicly
declared he would retire from the sex business.

Balinese sensed something fishy when Hartono recruited young
women to work at the establishment which consisted of a
discotheque, restaurant and bungalows. He also built a VIP room
which cost Rp 6 million per night, with the guest served by six
young women.

Under pressure from the then governor Ida Bagus Oka, Hindu
intellectuals and the public alike, Badung regent Gusti Alit
Putra closed Planet Bali only weeks after he dedicated it on the
grounds that it was a place of prostitution.

"Bali does not need an amusement center like Planet Bali
because it is not compatible with the Balinese values. What sort
of amusement is it that costs up to Rp 6 million per night?" said
Jelantik, a Balinese intellectual.

Although Planet Bali has been closed down, prostitution
appears to be flourishing behind tourism's facade.

On Jl. Kartika Plaza and Jl. Raya Legian in Kuta, prostitutes
line up along the streets at night. In broken English, they try
to lure customers.

"Mister, sleep with me. Fifty thousand!" is their most common
entreaty to passing tourists.

Along Jl. Kartika Plaza, the streetwalkers are literally on
the road ready to go. They ride motorcycles with a spare helmet
and stop in front of lone male tourists. When the tariff is
agreed upon, the woman drives her customer to his hotel.

In some localities, prostitutes base their operations in
boardinghouses, bungalows, inns and shopping centers. They are
organized by pimps who know how to find customers.

"High-class prostitutes' customers include government
officials and businessmen. There are business people who offer
women to government officials for business needs," said Gawi.

"Unless the problem is properly addressed, cultural tourism
will remain a slogan."

Regular raids on nightspots by the Denpasar administration
have brought little success. Many prostitutes have been fined Rp
50,000 in court. Others were sent to rehabilitation centers under
the social services ministry before they were sent back to their
hometowns.

It does not seem to have deterred the prostitutes. This is
obvious from the rising number of ladies of the night swarming to
nightspots in major resort centers. Police have complained they
often find it difficult to act against amusement spots which are
prostitution fronts because they are legally in order.

It is against this background that hoteliers like Ida Bagus
Oka Abiana, owner of Abiana Srama in Sanur, once proposed
legalized prostitution and gambling.

Abiana argued the negative impact of vice could be controlled
through making the activities legal. He pointed out that
prostitution and gambling could not be eradicated because the
businesses involved collusion between businesspeople and
government officials.

The proposal met strong opposition from Hindu intellectuals
like Dewa Gede Ngurah Swastha on this overwhelming Hindu island.
He said Hinduism forbade both gambling and prostitution. He also
rejected the argument that legalizing them would bring more
revenues to state coffers.

Ketut Wiana, an executive of the National Hindu Council, has
also flatly rejected the idea.

"Prostitution is just another crime which is not allowed by
Hindu teaching," he said. He believed that the social ills could
be cured through improving the public's religious observance and
increasing employment opportunities.

"Remember that Bali's mascot is its culture, not
prostitution," he said.