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Factbook on Global Sexual
Exploitation
Indonesia
Trafficking
In mid-1997 hundreds of Indonesian women, most under 20 years of age,
were in prostitution in Saudi Arabia. (Mien Sugandhi, Minister for Women’s Affairs in
Indonesia reports, "Hundreds of RI’s Women Believed To Work As Prostitutes in
Saudi Arabia," Kompas, 7 February 1997)
In 1996, 17 Indonesian women working as housemaids abroad were killed or died under
mysterious circumstances and 46 others were tortured or sexually abused. (Women’s
Solidarity report, "Seventeen maids have died abroad," Jakarta Post, 25
November 1997)
Mail Order Brides
Ethnic-Chinese women living in Indonesia are joining
mail-order-bride services as a means to leave the country. The ethnic-Chinese minority has
been living in fear since the riots following President Suharto’s resignation. Bobby
Halim & Associates, consultants for immigration to Australia, has had its client load
has jumped fivefold over the past couple of months. Other women are leaving on short-tern
college course exchange programs or finding sweatshop jobs abroad. (Jesse Wong,
"Ethnic-Chinese women seek to wed to flee fear, violence in Indonesia,"
Edited/Distributed by HURINet - The Human Rights Information Network, 21 July 1998)
Prostitution
A 1992
survey showed that one out of 10 prostituted persons was under age 17, and that one out of
five of those older than that age said they took up prostitution before they reached 17.
(Dario Agnote, "Sex trade key part of S.E. Asian economies, study says," Kyodo
News, 18 August 1998)
The sex industry accounts for an estimated 1.2 billion dollars to
3.3 billion dollars in annual earnings, or between 0.8 and 2.4% of the country's GDP, the
study said. In Jakarta alone, prostitution-related activities are estimated to be worth 91
million dollars annually. (Dario Agnote, "Sex trade key part of S.E. Asian economies,
study says," Kyodo News, 18 August 1998)
There are between 140,000 and 230,000 prostituted persons in
Indonesia (1993-1994 estimates). Prostituted persons are mainly adult women, but there are
also male, transvestite and child prostitutes, both girls and boys. (International Labor
Organization. Dario Agnote, "Sex trade key part of S.E. Asian economies, study
says," Kyodo News, 18 August 1998)
There are at least 650,000 prostitutes in Indonesia. In 1998 there were
150,000 registered prostitutes compared to 72,000 in 1995. 30 percent are children.
(Yogyakarta Free Children Society, Mohammad Farid, "Indonesian economic crisis boosts
prostitution," Reuters, 26 July 1998)
There were 65,582 registered prostitutes in 1994. The highest estimate is 500,000 women
in prostitution. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the
Asia Pacific)
About 200 prostituted women in Jakarta, Indonesia, protesting plans by the mayor to
close down their complex carried signs stating "I did not want to become a
prostitute. The economic difficulties have made me a prostitute." ("Indonesian
prostitutes join wave of protests," Reuters, 2 July 1998)
Earnings from prostitution average $600 a month in Indonesia and are
higher than in other unskilled jobs. (International Labor Organization, Elif Kaban,
"UN labour body urges recognition of sex industry," Reuters, 18 August
1998)
Particularly because of the economic crises in Asia, women in Thailand and Indonesia
are increasingly forced into prostitution as the only means of survival. ("Women
Workers Are Last in, First Out," Associated Press, 30 April 1998)
In Indonesia the economic crisis has driven thousands of women into prostitution for
economic survival. Although "streetwalkers" are prohibited in Jakarta, there is
no law prohibiting the sale of sexual services. (Yogyakarta Free Children Society,
Mohammad Farid, "Indonesian economic crisis boosts prostitution," Reuters,
26 July 1998)
The sex industry takes in US$ 1.2 - US$ 3.6 billion. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking
in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)
The city of Surbaya, with tens of thousands of prostitutes, is the largest sex industry
center in South East Asia, which consists of hectares and hectares of modest houses with
large, plate-glass windows where bored girls sit waiting: "streets full of human
aquariums". It is also a magnet for the divorced and dispossessed women of the strict
Islamic villages. The sex industry serves as a source of women for prostitution in
provincial towns, through a black market network of pimps. (Louise Williams, "Sex in
the Cemetary," Sydney Morning Herald, 25 January 1997)
30% of the girls in Semarang, Indonesia who are homeless are forced into prostitution
for survival. (University Diponegoro study, Nicholas D. Kristof "Asian Crisis Deals
Setbacks to Women")
Indonesian women are being
forced into prostitution as the economic crisis worsens say human rights groups.
("Indonesian mob torches prostitution complex," Reuters, 28 September
1998)
A red-light district in Jakarta was burned by a group of 100
citizens who would not tolerate its existence any longer. The area had been raided
numerous times over the course of 15 years, but never closed down. No casualties occurred.
("Indonesian mob torches prostitution complex," Reuters, 28 September
1998)
Health and Well-Being
There are 12,000 to 31,000 people currently dying from AIDS every year in Indonesia,
and half a million will be infected by 2000. Most women say they are in prostitution
because they have been divorced and abandoned by men. Many divorcees are still young,
having married in their teens and separated in their early 20s. Having lost their
virginity they are of less value as second wives Most men refuse to wear condoms and if
women insist, they accuse them of having a disease. (Louise Williams, "Sex in the
Cemetery," Sydney Morning Herald, 25 January 1997)
Most men refuse to wear condoms and if women insist, the me accuse them of having a
disease (Louise Williams, "Sex in the Cemetary," Sydney Morning Herald,
25 January 1997)
Case
One girl who was sold into prostitution by her family was locked up, starved and
threatened by her captors. She tried to commit suicide, but the wounds were bandaged by
her captors. (University Diponegoro study, Nicholas D. Kristof "Asian Crisis Deals
Setbacks to Women")
Policy and Law
Localized bordello complexes, "localisasi," are managed under local
government regulations. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in
the Asia Pacific)
Official Response and Action
Indonesia
will not recognize the sex industry as called for but the International Labor
Organization, said Social Affairs Minister Justika Baharsyah in August 1998. "From a
religious side, it can't be accepted...I personally disagree on the sex worker
issue," said the Minister. "There is the question of morality. The government is
finding ways to handle prostitution. In the social affairs ministry, we are handling
rehabilitation (of prostitutes) with other ministries like manpower, religious affairs and
education." ("Indonesia social minister disagrees on sex workers,"
Reuters, 20 August 1998)
Women were advised by Dr H. Soejoga, Health Ministry Director General for Medical
Services, not to resort to prostitution after loosing their jobs due to the Asian economic
crisis. ("Laid Off Workers Persuaded Not to Enter Prostitution," Antara News,
5 March 1998)
Indonesia has set up a telephone hotline for victims of rape from the rioting in
Jakarta. Human Rights Groups have documented more than 100 cases of rape and sexual
assault. (Associated Press, 28 June 1998)
The Australian government has funded a project in Surabaya, which aims to raise the
self-esteem of women and girls in prostitution and arm them with information and
confidence to protect themselves from AIDS and other STDs. (Louise Williams, "Sex in
the Cemetary," Sydney Morning Herald, 25 January 1997)
Organized and Institutionalized
Sexual Exploitation and Violence
625 women were raped and tortured between
1990-1997, sometimes by military personnel, in Aceh, Indonesia. The majority of the rapes
occurred in 1990. Some of the 1,670 people listed as missing between 1990-1997 have been
killed. ("600 ‘raped in Aceh over past seven years’,"
Edited/Distributed by HURINet - The Human Rights Information Network, 8 July 1998)
Security forces gang rape and torture women
say women testifying before a parliamentary fact-finding mission in Aceh, Indonesia. Men
in the area have been tortured, killed, and buried in mass graves. The people testifying
said they did not fear the Aceh Freedom Movement, but feared military stationed in the
region and called for troop removal. A local legislative assembly compiled a report citing
440 cases of violence against individuals. ("Women tell DPR mission about gang
rapes," Edited/Distributed by HURINet - The Human Rights Information Network, 29 July
1998)
More than 150 Indonesian females,
aged between 10 - 50 were systematically gang raped in front of their families in May
1998. At least 20 of the victims died, of suicide or murder after the assault. (Ariel
Heryanto, "Call For Support," 31 July 1998)
Migrant Chinese Indonesians arrived in Malaysia in July 1998 as a result of the
violence against them in Indonesia. Fathers have been forced to rape their daughters, and
brothers to rape their sisters. The rapes are video recorded, and displayed on the
Internet. Indonesians are pretending to be soldiers "putting red, green and blue
crosses on houses"-red to encourage burning the house, green to encourage rape
against the females, and blue to encourage stealing. At night they then commit these
crimes. People are offering US$ 6 to rape a Chinese Indonesian. A Chinese university
student is in the hospital in Singapore for operations to remove her uterus as a result of
the damage done to her by being gang raped and sodomized. 5,000 Chinese Indonesians have
died, and there is a suspected cover-up by Jakarta president Habibe. (Audra Lim,
documenting personal communications, Institute of Noise and Vibration HVAC Research
Programme, 17 July 1998)
In the morning of May 14, 1998, a series of violent incidents started to break out, and
by mid-day the city of Jakarta and its surroundings were on fire. Thousands of commercial
buildings, business offices, supermarkets, residential houses, public utilities, buses and
private cars were burnt down or simply ransacked on the streets. Amidst the riots,
widespread looting and torture took place. By June 9, 1998, humanitarian workers had
catalogued 2,244 dead bodies (mostly burnt), 91 injured and 31 people missing. Most of the
victims were ordinary people. The violence also involved a series of gang-rapes on Chinese
women. As of July 3, 1998, 152 women were found who had been gang-raped, of whom 20 are
dead. The government and military are accused of participating in a cover-up by suggesting
that it was the urban poor who incited the violence against their neighbors. They are
treating gang rapes as ordinary criminal activity rather than organized violence and
terrorism. (Team of Volunteers for Humanitarian Causes, Father Sandyawan’s,
"Condition of our shared life", speech to the US Congress, July 28,1998)
Women’s
rights activists say mobs used rape as a "weapon of terror" during riots in May
1998, attacking and raping 168 women and girls, many from Indonesia's Chinese minority.
Twenty women died, some in homes set afire; one of the victims was only 9 years old. Human
rights groups and other groups filed a class action lawsuit against the government and
security forces accusing them of failing to control the violence. Lawyer Ester Jusuf of
the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute said the groups are demanding $3.7 billion in compensation
for victims of the rioting. The suit was filed against General Wiranto, the defense
minister and armed forces commander, as well as several police chiefs. ("Activists
protest Indonesia military," Associated Press, 17 July 1998)
168 women were raped during
riots in May following the resignation of President Suharto. Of this number, 20 died
during or after the assaults. Human Rights investigators presumed many other women had
either fled the city or were too traumatized to report their rapes. Some had been silenced
by the threats or by rumors of further attacks and rapes. The investigators themselves
have been threatened. Other women have committed suicide, saying they had heard reports of
additional rapes and sexual assaults in the weeks after the riots. Most attacks were
directed against the Ethnic-Chinese, who have often been made scapegoats in times of
conflict or hardship. The human rights workers said their investigation reinforced their
belief that the rapes, some involving girls as young as nine years old, had been organized
and coordinated in the same way as the looting and arson. "Rape crisis centre workers
get threats," Straits Times, 21 July 1998)
The
gang rape of ethnic-Chinese women in Indonesia during the May 1998 riots should be seen as
a war crime, say Singapore women's groups. The groups have sent a letter to the Indonesian
ambassador and are calling for discussion of the matter by ASEAN leaders. Regional
governments should seek justice for the victims and help for their families to recover
from the long-term effects of the trauma, as victims no longer live in a safe environment.
Indonesian women have been talking openly about the rapes and want justice. (Braema Mathi,
"Gang rapes in Indonesia," Straits Times Interactive, 27 July 1998)
The government should help gang rape victims of the May 1998
riots by protecting the victims, witnesses and volunteers, and ordering an inquiry into
the riots and prosecuting the culprits said the Indonesian National Commission on Human
Rights. (Braema Mathi, "Gang rapes in Indonesia," Straits Times Interactive,
27 July 1998)
Official Response and Action
An independent national committee would be set up
to investigate the rapes that happened during rioting in May of 1998 and report its
findings to President B.J. Habibie, said Women's Affairs Minister Tutty Alawiyah. After
meeting women's groups, in July 1998, Habibie condemned the rapes as "an inhuman
episode in the history of the nation." ("Activists protest Indonesia
military," Associated Press, 17 July 1998)
The rape of ethnic-Chinese women in the May 1998 riots
in Indonesia was a result of the social gap as much as it was racially motivated said
President B.J. Habibie. He said he knew of Chinese Indonesians who were not attacked
because they contributed to the community and that the social gap between the Chinese
minority and other Indonesians was caused by Dutch colonizers. ("Attacks on Chinese
not planned," Straits Times, 31 July 1998)
Factbook Table of Contents
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Coalition Against Trafficking in
Women
Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation
Donna M. Hughes, Laura Joy Sporcic, Nadine Z. Mendelsohn and Vanessa Chirgwin
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