Workers moonlight as prostitutes

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

As the sun sets, some factory workers rush to their boarding houses to refresh themselves. They take off their uniforms and replace them with miniskirts. Heavy makeup is smeared on their faces.

Those young women are not going to a party. They work at nightspots in the Lippo Pinangsia office complex in Karawaci.

Despite mayor M. Thamrin's ban on the presence of nightspots in Tangerang municipality, the office complex has turned into a night entertainment center with karaoke lounges, massage and sauna parlors, discotheques and sex.

The women claim they need the income because their salary at the factory is far from enough.

Most workers in Tangerang receive the minimum wage of less than Rp 600,000. This year, they expect to receive a 7 percent increase, like their colleagues in Jakarta.

Dozens of women, aged between 15 and 25 years, work at nightspots to entertain and accompany the guests. Most of them have average looks. But their makeup and sexy dresses at least help hide their shortcomings under the dim lights.

The nightspot management call them "guides".

At the karaoke lounges, the women prepare the songs ordered by the customers, pouring drinks into their glass, accompanying them and dancing with them. They may also extend the service outside the building if required.

Basically, the guides are obliged to make the guests feel good. They must be able to act as good partners for the guests, and chat with them so that the guests stay longer, spend more money and are willing to come back.

Many of the guides are available for extra services, including sex, outside the nightspots.

One of them, Chyntia, who works at a garment factory during the day told The Jakarta Post that a "night date" was an effective way to make money within a short time without having to work hard.

"If I am willing to accompany a guest for a night, I can bring home at least Rp 300,000," she said.

On a Saturday night, she said she could even earn up to Rp 1 million since most of her customers were foreigners who worked and lived in Tangerang.

There are more than 400 foreigners who work in Tangerang, one third of them are from South Korea. The others are mostly from Taiwan, Japan and China.

Some of the guides said that sometimes they could attract the foreign "bosses" or even became their mistress.

One of them is Tuti, who works at a textile factory.

She said that her meeting with a Korean called "Mr. Kim" at the karaoke lounge had changed her life. The man provided her with a small but nice house in Lippo Karawaci housing estate, and a monthly allowance which was transferred to her bank account.

"But, I certainly have to pay for it with my body. I have to be ready to serve him anytime he wants me," she told the Post.

She added that despite her frequent remorse, she admitted that her life was more enjoyable now than before she met him.

"My salary is only Rp 500,000 per month, it is far from enough to fulfill my daily needs ... I could not afford to buy proper food before," she said.

But such a relationship might end at any time.

Like in the case of Ayu, who the Post met at a discotheque in Taman Cibodas subdistrict.

She said she used to work in a garment factory, but the wage was low and worse, there was some reduction in the salary. In November 2001, when she came to her boss' office to protest, the man gave her a glass of water. After she drank it, she felt dizzy and passed out. She said she had been raped. But she said she could not do anything and left after the boss gave her Rp 2 million and told her not to tell anyone about what had happened between them.

After the incident, her boss often asked her to go out together but they ended up in a hotel room. Three months later, her boss promoted her to supervisor and they became closer to each other.

"My life changed but it was not long. My boss dated my fellow worker who was prettier than me. I was angry and when I protested, he dismissed me," she said.

She then got a job as a blue collar worker at a food factory. But at night, she works at a discotheque as a "public relations officer" whose job is accompanying the guest to drink and get relaxed. But she is also available for sex.

She said she did it because her monthly salary at the food factory was not sufficient.

"And also because I am no longer clean."