Surabaya's flesh trade slashes fees

Surabaya's flesh trade slashes fees

By Ainur R. Sophiaan

SURABAYA (JP): The country's second-largest metropolis is
maintaining its own slice of a certain lucrative business even as
the crisis pinches daily household spending.

While there are now more "slow" days for sex workers, they are
surviving by offering discounts.

Surabaya now has at least 10,000 sex workers in middle- and
upper-class red-light areas. Estimated figures, including workers
operating in cemeteries, at railway stations and along the
tracks, have reached 13,000. According to the local Ministry of
Social Affairs, the latest available statistics -- 1996 -- show
that there are 7,500 sex workers.

In the Jarak area, 240 brothels are inhabited by 2,500 sex
workers; 750 operate in the famed Dolly area in Banyuurip; and
Bangunrejo, the largest red-light area, has 3,000 sex workers.

A neighborhood chief in Bangunrejo said: "The place is really
cramped now."

There are about 100 women in the city's mansions who are
catering to the high-class segment. Taxi drivers direct men to
houses, including at Darmo Satelit Indah, Jl. Gubeng Raya and Jl.
Kartini, where transactions are done with credit cards.

"Foreigners and bapak-bapak from Jakarta often ask for them,"
said a taxi driver.

The women work for panderers; since the crisis, these men have
chosen "short-time" fees of Rp 200,000 to Rp 2 million, compared
to "long-time" fees of Rp 500,000 to Rp 5 million, local sources
said.

One of these women said she received 60 percent of the fees.

Women at five-star hotels say bargaining now can end in fees
down 50 percent of the normal rates.

"We're giving discounts now," said a 25-year-old woman, who
said she was from Malang, East Java.

Cheaper prices also abound at other places, where the highest
fees are usually Rp 250,000. "It depends on the market now," said
Rad, a brothel owner in the Dolly area. "The fee can be half that
again on slow days. We're slashing fees to liven up the place."

Entrants into the business are similar to those in Jakarta,
where preteens operate in entertainment places and malls. An
unknown number work in parking lots and bus stops, especially
during lunch and after-office hours.

As in other cities, social workers grouped at Yayasan Hotline
Surya, who have worked long to build public awareness of
prevention of sexual diseases here, find they have much more work
on their hands.