It's a big aim, and seems a million miles from village life. By 15, the girls, bored and unemployed, have watched older friends return to the village for religious holidays, desirably light-skinned from night work, with money to splash around, wearing beautiful clothes and make-up. By the age of 11 or 12, many children have dropped out entirely. According to Sukim, everyone has access to primary school but there are only a few middle schools (years 7 to 9) and, in Bongas at least, no high school at all. There are no factories in Indramayu and the education system is so poor that few people are qualified for even the most basic white-collar job. Offshore migrant labour means years away from home, and the horror stories of mistreatment, including rape, are legion. Even in this slow-speed rural economy, it's barely enough to survive, much less buy a house. In the vast rice fields, people toil in the wilting sun for just 30,000 rupiah - around $3 - per day. Indramayu is sustained by three industries: rice growing, sending people to countries such as Saudi Arabia and Malaysia as migrant labourers, and remittances from sex work. "They follow you to make sure you don't run away or go to work in another bar."Īsk people here why they sell their daughters and the answer is faktor ekonomi - economic reasons. "It's not easy to go out, even on your day off or to go shopping, because security guards go with you," says Nur'Asiah. Many sex workers live in dormitories guarded by brothel staff. For the girls, though, the debt is a burden. "Who were the most successful people? Sex workers," says Sunenti, another girl who took the bait. The houses act as a marketing tool to lure other families into the trade.
The parents outdo each other to build the most enviable house in the village. The pimp or channeller then goes out of his way to extend the loan, "pampering the parents" to create an ongoing debt. The dukun performs a ritual which they believe symbolically implants a diamond in the girl's body, "to make her prettier and more desirable", Sukim says. Many Indonesians hedge their bets between Islamic observance and village magic, but, for practical purposes, they place greater faith in the latter. The first money is small and goes directly to the new recruit to buy clothes, make-up and a trip to the "magic man", or dukun. The rest of the model is unchanged: girls are still pressed to take loans, which are then used as a tool by the pimps and madams, who are all called Mami, to keep them loyal. Middlemen still play a role behind the scenes, but if the first suggestion of a career in prostitution is made to a new girl by her friend, the real traffickers can plausibly deny their involvement. But the industry adapted, and these days many young Indramayu girls are recruited by their friends, says Sukim, a former pimp who now works at Yayasan Kusuma Bongas, a non-government organisation devoted to fighting the recruitment of sex workers. In 2007, Indonesia banned the traffic in girls under 18. Though this course of action is so common that there is very little stigma, officially it's frowned upon. "But the most important thing is that she did it for the family."įor perhaps 30 years Indramayu has been exporting its daughters, from the age of 15 or 16 up, to brothels across Indonesia. "She chose the job it was her own choice," he says as Nur'Asiah looks on impassively. Her grandfather, Dasmin, a beneficiary of the house renovation, is comfortable with what has happened. Indramayu has become the region that sells its daughters. They know that, if it becomes necessary in the future, she'll be able to support her whole family. Not every girl here becomes a sex worker, but again and again in these villages we hear the same story: when an Indramayu family has a baby girl, they celebrate. "They are like a cash cow, but they need to work hard," Son says.Ī disproportionate number of Indonesia's prostitutes come from this one small cluster of villages in West Java. The parents would get a loan and their daughter would pay it back with her labour, usually over 2 to 3 years. Son would then tell the parents if their desires were realistic: "A pimp can see if the girl is pretty enough, how many guests she will get per night. "If a family wanted to sell their girl, they'd usually come to me and say, 'Can you help my daughter? Can you take her?' 'Okay, what do you want?' I'd say. "Cash cows": Nur'Asiah, a sex worker in her room in Indramayu, West Java.
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