Surabaya prostitutes put on theater in act of empowerment
By Peter Kerr
JAKARTA (JP): In a backstreet of the biggest brothel area in Surabaya, a dozen women sit around on the floor of a small building that serves as a health clinic, a drop-in center and, at this moment, a rehearsal venue.
Each woman has in front of her a bamboo cylinder, which she beats in time to the rhythm of the words that flow around the circle.
The happy faces, the interplay of expressions and the strong, clear voices make it obvious this is something they really enjoy.
For these sex workers, some as young as 19, some older than 50, theater has become a powerful tool to explore issues that are otherwise taboo, or too painful or embarrassing.
In the process they gain a sense of self in a world where they are commodities, and build confidence and self-esteem. Since 1994 these performances have been part of annual sex worker conferences held in Surabaya, where more than 20,000 women work in five large brothel areas, including the most notorious, Dolly.
Now their theater is being brought to Jakarta for performances on Friday and Saturday nights at Teater Utan kayu, and on Sunday afternoon at Luwes IKJ Theater.
Violence and harassment is a core theme.
"It is about their daily lives. It is an empowerment program for them but also an advocacy program so people get to know (the commercial sex industry) is like that," said Julius Siyaranamual, who drafted the first script for Matahari dan Matahari (Sun and Sun). From there, the sex workers make their own stories.
Julius is program director of Yayasan Hotline Surabaya, which runs an outreach service and counseling and training for Surabaya's sex workers, and promotes awareness of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Most of the women follow a well-worn path to the Surabaya sex industry, according to the Hotline's executive director, Esthi Susanti Hudiono.
Girls, some as young as 12 and 13, come from villages around Indonesia, but mostly from Central and East Java. They usually have trouble at home with boyfriends or husbands who mistreat them, and parents who are unsympathetic or who the girls believe don't understand them.
They run to the cities, where unscrupulous men working in bus stations and other travel hubs channel them into sex work.
Once there, the money is usually much more than they could earn anywhere else.
Julius says the women talk during their performances "about the people who always exploit them, like their boyfriends". He and Esthi believe passionately in the right of sex workers to be treated equally in society rather than be ignored or shunned.
Hotline plans a permanent theater group that can perform more regularly, and in other brothels all over Indonesia.
Matahari dan Matahari shows at Teater Utan Kayu, Jl. Utan Kayu 68H on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and at Luwes IKJ Theater, Jl. Cikini Raya 73, on Sunday at 3 p.m.