From Concubines to Prostitutes: A Partial History of Trade in Sexual Services in Indonesia

Few areas of social research in Indonesia are so fraught with controversy, contradiction and willful misunderstanding as the issue of heterosexual prostitution. On the surface of social discourse, the sale of sexual services is almost universally condemned. Particular criticism is levelled at women engaged in such transactions. They are called wanita tuna susilawomen without morals and are often stereotyped as predatory. In contrast little is said about the men who are their customers. From time to time feminists and religious moralists attempt to focus attention on pria tuna susila (men without morals), but the terminology has always failed to capture the popular imagination. The notion of condemning the behaviour of the male customers in commercial sex transactions is outweighed by widespread social attitudes of acceptance of the naturalness of male sex urges, and by extension the appropriateness of men seeking sexual satisfaction outside of marriage. In this context prostitution in Indonesia is full of contradictions. Though easily found throughout the land, it is the subject of broad condemnation. Placed in a legal status of great ambiguity, the institutions of prostitution are often owned by governments, managed by former government officials, and subject to both regulation and taxation. Prostitution in Indonesia differs greatly in form, social setting and operation from those commercial sex institutions of Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia, and also displays many important regional variations. The reasons for these interesting patterns are to be found in Indonesian history, legal development, culture and systems of governance. This paper reviews the natural history of Indonesian prostitution up to the end of Suhartos New Order Government in 1998 in an attempt to understand how the present situation came to be, and how it might evolve in future as a backdrop to the radical changes that have since taken place to repress prostitution in the Reform governments between 1999 and 2016.