Thin pickings for 'freelancers' as clientele dries up
By Stephanie Bells
JAKARTA (JP): It could be a night club anywhere in the world. The music is loud, ultra-cool and pulsates through the dark and smoky atmosphere. The patrons are young and attractive. Yet, observe for long enough, and you will discover that this bar is not just full of people out to have a few drinks and listen to music.
The conversation is not quite as casual as you may first think. The clientele is mostly pairs of Indonesian girls and groups of expat men. Expat women are conspicuous by their absence.
It's early yet: midnight. Two girls sit side by side at the end of the bar. In front of them are the drinks they ordered as the cost of their entry. The girls have barely touched them.
Further along the bar, another girl sits by herself, slowly sipping her drink to make it last. Upstairs, more girls are together in pairs. Some play pool, other girls simply "hang out".
The girls' clothing reveals more than a lot of golden skin. It reveals their intentions: to go home with a man, and one who will pay them.
This is one side of an industry that is as full of shadows; the dark side of the bright lights of Jakarta. Prostitution.
Selling one's body is nothing new, and certainly not unique to Jakarta. Around the world, the main reason for doing it is money.
The difference is the way it is done here, compared to Western cultures. These girls refer to themselves as "freelancers" or "business girls". If you push a little harder for them to name a profession, they will often tell you "student" or "sales girl".
And if the words they use to describe their "business" are misleading, then the method of conducting their business is even more shadowy and elusive.
The men who go to this club, and many others like it in Jakarta, are from countries who use a cut and dried system for paying for sex.
Where they come from, you approach a girl who is for sale in either a brothel or on the street. A fee is paid for certain services or for time spent conducting those services. When it is over, the client leaves. End of business transaction.
Usually a very expensive transaction which few men can afford on a regular basis.
Not so in Jakarta. When a man arrives here from another country, he inevitably goes out to explore, to meet people and relax. He finds himself in a nightclub surrounded by beautiful girls.
He begins to realize that he is attracting the attention of these girls and finds himself approached. He can't believe his luck: this almost never happens at home! These girls are very friendly and easy to talk to. He offers to buy one a drink, and the rest is easy.
They may spend an entire night together -- not 30 minutes as he would expect. The next morning, she either tells him how much she is charging, or makes it clear that she would like to meet again. Most often, he will pay her the price.
He can't believe how much it didn't cost. That was easy; why stop at one. He is lonely, often here by himself, away from his family. He is here because he wants to make money. As one man puts it, "this place is like a candy shop."
The reason for the difficulty in definitions is that most of the girls genuinely do not see themselves as prostitutes. It is a word they find offensive.
Poor
They see themselves as simply trying to improve their standard of living. Many of the girls have come from poor backgrounds outside Jakarta. The lights of the city eventually prove irresistible, and they come to find work.
What they find are jobs which do not pay well, and that just to survive, they find themselves working long hours of overtime. Some are single mothers, others are women who are trying to support extended families back at home.
Looking good in the city is also important. It is not acceptable to wear traditional Indonesian clothing when you have a smart city image to live up to. Smart city clothing is expensive. So are cosmetics, shoes, handbags and lingerie.
As inevitably as the men who become their clients are drawn to the bars and clubs, so too are the girls, who have found themselves in debt and unable to pay their bills.
They soon discover that the equivalent of an entire week's wages can be made in one night.
With this work also comes a potential bonus. Some girls find themselves favored by their wealthy clients. A relationship is formed, and the girl finds that not only does she not need to conduct her "freelancing" any longer, but finds herself escorted to places she could never have afforded, taken on the occasional holiday and life generally becomes easier.
But local men are usually not wealthy enough, or would not spend so much on such a girlfriend. "They are not interested in locals," said a somewhat despondent Indonesian man.
Some girls do eventually marry their partner. One such girl, Isla, not her real name, was living in a boarding house with her young son.
She went to an upmarket hotel one night and met a wealthy foreign man who was living here permanently. They eventually married and she now describes her life as like "living in a fantasy".
Most girls, however, are not so lucky. They are aware that their boyfriend has ties in another country when they form the relationship. But they either hope that he will not return home or that he will divorce his wife. In reality, however, when his contract finishes, she is usually left behind.
"Rina" was once engaged to a man who eventually left her. She feels she has no choice other than to work as a "freelancer" as she had not worked in the two years she had known her fiancee, and has been unable to find work to pay for the lifestyle to which she had grown accustomed.
With tears in her eyes, she says that she is heartbroken, and that she still loves him. "I can't believe he left me... " Five minutes later she was in the arms of another foreign man.
The financial crisis has affected Indonesians from every background and walk of life. Many of the expat men who had previously provided work here have not had their contracts renewed, or have been sent elsewhere to work.
These men are now leaving Indonesia, or have already left to go back to girlfriends, wives and family.
Girls who were in relationships with foreign men are finding themselves more and more having to go back to the bars. There is increasing competition for work, although paradoxically prices have risen.
According to one man, he is now paying more than three times the price for a night than he was when he arrived here a year ago. A service used to cost Rp 100,000, which can now reach Rp 350,000. "Some of the girls are now demanding U.S. dollars," he said.
Neither of these things bothers him, as his wage has risen in line with the exchange rate. He is also going home to his fiancee soon.
There is no doubt that life is getting tougher for Jakarta's bar girls. Working in an industry that does not officially exist provides no guarantees and no protection.
Girls who used to go to a "better class" of establishment, such as five-star hotels, are finding this too expensive now.
They are beginning to frequent the less desirable places. Even here, though, the cost of the drink they must buy to gain entry into these clubs has more than doubled recently.
The girls now have to invest more, so receiving returns is even more important. Opportunities to form "permanent relationships" are also thinning out.
Another effect of the crisis is that the girls need to work more often, and be less choosy about who they go home with.
According to "Tati": "I used to have a choice of the men I went home with. Now they're all leaving. I feel like I have to go with whoever I can find."