Jakarta (news, books, and sex, news)

Nites  Photo by =Geiss

News

How the wheels of justice turn so very slowly… still, better late than never (with some qualifications)…

From Reuters 6/16/2008

Top court won’t review Exxon Indonesia lawsuit

Reporting by James Vicini, Editing by David Alexander and Sandra Maler

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear an appeal by Exxon Mobil Corp. seeking to dismiss a lawsuit by 11 Indonesian villagers who claim the company’s security forces committed human rights abuses at a natural gas processing plant in the Aceh province.

The high court followed the recommendation of the U.S. government and it turned down the company’s appeal without any comment. The Supreme Court’s action does not set any precedent and does not represent a ruling on the merits of the dispute.

The lawsuit, filed in 2001 in federal court in Washington claimed the security forces at the facility were comprised exclusively of members of the Indonesian military and that Exxon retained them even though it had been aware the Indonesian army had committed human rights abuses in the past. … go to article

 Books

I recently received, showing up in my mail box, Celebrating 60 Years – 1948 – 2008 TUTTLE, A Memeber of the Periplus Publishing Group, New Titles and Complete Backlist, Fall 2008.

Periplus, of course, has bookshops throughout Jakarta. Their site is found here.  Over the years I have purchased many of their publications which include Tuttle’s Concise Indonesian Dictionary and the Periplus wall map of Indonesia(71 cm X 118 cm), a beautiful full color map of the archipelago which is a work of art in itself.  I have on order the Jakarta Street Atlas 2nd. Ed.(don’t leave home without it). Tuttle is famous for its Asian language dictionaries, Periplus for its maps and travel books. And much, much more.

From Tuttle

“2008 marks a milestone for Tuttle Publishing. Originally established in 1948 in Rutland, Vermont, and Tokyo, Japan, this year we are fortunate and honored to be celebrating our 60th anniversary. Since its inception, Tuttle Publishing has been a leading publisher of books on Asia. We are extremely pleased to be able to continue this tradition, and invite you to explore the rich cultural heritage of Asia through this website”.

The catalog is full of beautiful books, of that there is no doubt, and if I had deeper bank account than I currently have there certainly would be several new titles appearing on my bookshelves. Here are five below which caught my eye (not including Straits and Narrow by Grace McClurg, The Rain Tree by Sylvie Phillips, and Unhooking a DD-cup Bra without Fumbling by Adam Adams (a book which claims to be written without the use of the letter “E”, now that is something!). 

Well, it is summer in Hawaii, so it is not just a question of my bank account but also the time, the hammock strung between two shade trees, and the large glasses of iced tea necessary to address this stack of books.

     

    

 

 

Sex

Two things come to mind here.  You can’t judge a book by its cover. Sex sells.  Unfortunately, I have not read the books which I have mentioned here. Not yet anyway. So I cannot make a fair comment. 

The Asian Review of Books panned Jakarta Undercover writing that, “The blurb on the back of JAKARTA UNDERCOVER claims it as Indonesia’s answer to America’s ‘Sex and the City’. It has sold over 200,000 copies in Indonesia, and proved something of a sensation, lifting the lid on the sexual adventures to be had in the world’s fourth largest capital, and giving the lie to the image of a puritanical Muslim nation.

But MOAMMAR EMKA’s book probably proves the truth of a different adage: that one country’s erotica is another’s turn-off. The exploits chronicled here are described in a spare, bland style, both slightly cold and offputting. Emka talks about the services available for the rich and favoured in the new Jakarta — expats, the wealthy business people, some politicians, the elite — and only once or twice does he does mention that Indonesia is still one of the poorest countries in the world, where the sort of prices he mentions here for nights of wild excess would add up to earnings for a year or more”.

Monsoon Books wrote of Jakarta Undercover II, “After the enormous success of Jakarta Undercover, Moammar Emka is back with more on the seedy nightlife and underground sex servics of modern, hip Jakarta. Delving deep into the city’s karaoke clubs, massage parlours and transit hotels, the author takes it upon himself to experience first-hand the tasty delights on offer and what exactly they involve.

What is a cat-bath massage? Who are the Mickey Mouse girls? How much does an all-night gigolo really cost? How popular is the after-lunch hand-roll service?

From swingers parties to midnight lesbian packages, Jakarta seems to have it all when it comes to sexual services. And if you thought the first book was explosive, Jakarta Undercover II will leave your imagination running wild. 

Indonesia’s bestselling series—over half a million copies sold!”

Not much of a real review.  But something to think over at any rate.

Gerrie Lim’s The Invisible Trade is altogether something different as reviewed by the Asian Sex Gazette

“Welcome to the very real, largely hidden, and often surreal world of high-class sex for sale in Singapore, where the sexual desires of this tiny island run the gamut from simple missionary zeal to the cracking of the whip. Never before have outsiders been offered such a fascinating look into the weird and wonderful, delightful and sometimes depraved world of five-star, high-class prostitutes that operate in Singapores flourishing sex trade.

For those writing about the sex industry, there is always the danger that the story will become as exploitative as its subject matter. In this survey of high-end sex workers in Singapore, Lim (Inside the Outsider) manages to avoid this trap by giving the workers space to speak for themselves.

Emily, one of Lim’s subjects, describes her first time with a client: “On my first job I was very frightened and didn’t know what to do… I didn’t know how to do a massage or how to talk to a strange guy.” But now, she says, “If you think about the money you can do anything.” …> go to review

“If you think about the money you can do anything.”

I can’t see how Lim’s Part II can beat that quote.

Erotica Revealed has a good review of The Best of Singapore Erotica.

“What I discovered was a collection of stories, essays and poems that help clarify why Singapore has a sex-hostile reputation. Legal restrictions on homosexuality and other “deviant” sexual acts are only the beginning. The obstacles to satisfying sex in the city-state appear to be many and formidable: ferocious upward mobility and a punishing work ethic; shortage of affordable housing, which leads to young adults living with their parents in situations with little privacy; traditional values that favor security over romance; and finally, a complex, multi-racial class hierarchy with social distances that are near-impossible to bridge.

In spite of, perhaps even because of, all these barriers, some of the authors represented in this volume do succeed in creating arousing and emotionally involving tales that I would classify as erotica. One of my favorites is Ricky Low’s “Clean Sex,” in which a successful young Chinese businessman falls in love with an Indonesian housemaid, only to lose her when she’s accused of stealing the expensive presents he has bought for her. Another highlight is “Naked Screw” by Alison Lester, which portrays an initially confrontational but ultimately sensual encounter between a free-spirited ex-pat who likes to walk around her apartment without clothing, and a traditional South Asian laborer who claims that her nakedness offends him. Meihan Boey’s “A Dummy’s Guide to Losing Your Virginity,” in which she chronicles her methodical approach to finding and bedding her first lover, is a clever comic gem:

“Feel free to fit us both into any convenient category of human behavior. Rest assured, I will not complain. Complaining, I find, is the refuge of the weak and unimaginative who have neither the courage to put up with shit nor the wherewithal to get out of it.”

“And Then She Came,” by Jonathan Lim, is a creepy yet unquestionably sexy story of a helpless student “not sober enough to be superstitious,” who attracts the attention of a voracious female ghost. Aaron Ang’s “A Perfect Exit” is a sweet, sentimental and finally surprising story of geriatric lust. I also enjoyed “Self-Portrait with Three Monkeys,” by Chris Mooney-Singh, although it is more a character study than a story, the heroine a middle-aged career woman who consoles herself for her loveless couplings with an orgy of art. Another notable contribution is Weston Sun Wensheng’s “An MRT Chronicle,” a wry commentary on the trials of being young and horny in a society that offers no privacy at all”.

 Jakarta Urban Blog has previously posted on human trafficking in Asia and Indonesia.  

March 7, 2008 Jakarta (informal) part 2

 

And so here is the flip side to all of this…

 News

From The National (United Arab Emirates)

 Illegal logging trade forces jungle brothel in Indonesia

Marianne Kearney, foreign correspondent
Last Updated: May 24. 2008 5:39PM UAE / May 24. 2008 1:39PM GMT

JAKARTA // The illegal logging destroying Indonesia’s tropical forests is fuelling another illicit trade: the trafficking of girls as sex slaves.

Girls as young as 13 are being lured from their homes with promises of employment as waitresses or maids, and then pressed into servicing loggers, their bosses and forestry officials deep within the jungles of West Kalimantan, on Indonesia’s side of Borneo island.

Maria, a child’s rights activist, stumbled upon the jungle brothel during a trip to West Kalimantan to rescue teenagers in illegal gold mines.

The girls, many of them between 13 and 17, had been trafficked from within West Kalimantan, or Indonesia’s main island of Java, 920km away, she said.

“If they want to run, they’re in the middle of the forest, living beside a river, which is too deep and dangerous to swim,” said Maria, who asked that her real name not be used for fear of being tracked down by the traffickers.

The girls were paid as little as 300,000 rupiah per month (Dh118), and forced to live in appalling conditions, she said.

“They didn’t even have simple houses; they were living in huts or just tents made of plastic, with thatch roofs. There were no facilities for them,” Maria said. …> go to article

 Destroy a forest. Destroy a people. 

 “If you think about the money you can do anything”.

 

 

 

 

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Jakarta (H5N1, skulls, sex, demonstrasi, religion, politics)

 

At the Citayam rail crossing

Whatever is said about Jakarta NEVER let it be said that it is not an interesting place.  I have returned from three weeks of walking and driving the streets of Jakarta.  I have been busy with jet lag and reverse culture shock. That is MORE shocked to be home than to be in Jakarta. Odd, I know. I must be part Jakartan. I take that with a bit of pride and a bit of insanity. So it is.

It is time to turn to the news.  This week has been busy and there is a lot which can slip by so there is some catching up to do.

 From Reuters, April 29, 2008

Idonesian Boy Dies of Bird Flu

JAKARTA, April 29 (Reuters) – A three-year-old boy from Indonesia’s main island of Java has died from bird flu, pushing the country’s total confirmed human cases to 108, a health ministry official said on Tuesday…  …The national bird flu commission said the virus had infected poultry in 31 out of 33 provinces in Indonesia. It said five provinces had not reported new cases in the past six months.

Experts say the danger is the virus might mutate into a form that people easily catch and pass to one another, in which case the transmission rate would soar, causing a pandemic in which millions of people could die.

Since the virus resurfaced in Asia in late 2003, it has killed 240 people in a dozen countries, the World Health Organisation says. Indonesia has the highest toll of any nation. (Reporting by Mita Valina Liem; Editing by David Fogarty) …> go to article

 This was just three days after this…

From AFP…

Indonesia runs massive bird flu drill
Apr 25, 2008

TUKADDAYA, Indonesia (AFP) – Hundreds of Indonesian villagers and health workers took part in a massive drill here Friday to prepare for a potentially devastating outbreak of human-to-human bird flu.

The largest bird flu drill ever held in Indonesia, the country worst hit by the virus, involved the simulated outbreak of a pandemic which experts say could rapidly spread across the globe killing millions of people.

“This is the biggest drill in Indonesia. The objective is to test the preparedness of bird flu officials to manage an outbreak in case it happens,” health ministry disease control chief I Nyoman Kandun told reporters. …> go to article

 According to this article the first thing which would be done in a major outbreak of H5N1 would be to “seal off” the area. This probably would have to done with the army. The second thing which would happen (not mentioned in the article) is that people would run.  This is a losing game. It is potentially one of the most serious issues Indonesia faces.

Last month the United Nations FAO issued the following, as reported by Reuters.

FAO says Indonesia needs help fighting bird flu 19 Mar 2008 02:27:59 GMT

MILAN, March 18 (Reuters) – Major efforts have done little to control H5N1 avian influenza in Indonesia and the country needs more help in controlling the virus, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Tuesday.

Surveillance and response teams are working in 193 out of 448 districts in Indonesia, yet birds in 31 out of 33 provinces are affected, FAO Chief Veterinary Officer Joseph Domenech said in a statement.

By June 2008, more than 2,000 surveillance and response teams will be active in more than 300 districts in disease-endemic areas of the country, he said.

But that may not be enough.

“Indonesia is facing an uphill battle against a virus that is difficult to contain. Major human and financial resources, stronger political commitment and strengthened coordination between the central, provincial and district authorities are required to improve surveillance and control measures,” Domenech said. …> go to article

 Skulls

Skulls. They keep showing up in the oddest places and god knows that there are plenty of skulls knocking about Indonesia.

From the AP comes this…

Indonesian customs officers seize 3 human skulls at airport

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – Three humans skulls being sent to Britain were seized at Indonesia’s international airport, a customs officer said Thursday.

The sponge-wrapped skulls were packed in separate boxes and labeled as handicrafts, said Eko Darmanto, chief of customs at Jakarta’s airport. Two were intricately carved or decorated and the third remained in its original form.

“Police are investigating a possible crime,” he told reporters, adding that the skulls originated from Bali island and were destined for Yorkshire via air courier.

Indonesia’s criminal code says anyone who intentionally digs or moves human remains from a grave for sale or collection faces up to 14 months in jail. …> go to article

 SEX

Yes, of course, SEX. It is one of the major themes of my new Urban Studies Theory.

From ABC News…

Nude Casinos: All in a Night’s Work
Nightlife Is Racier Than You Might Think in This Muslim City
Reporter’s Notebook By MARGARET CONLEY
JAKARTA, Indonesia, May 2, 2008 

 Sashimi sex and nude casinos: It’s hardly what you’d expect to witness after the sun goes down in the world’s most populous Muslim nation.

But best-selling author Moammar Emka, known as Emka, knows otherwise. He’s been tracking the steamy nightlife scene in Indonesia’s capital city, Jakarta, for the last six years.

“It was unusual because the sashimi, a Japanese delicacy of sliced raw seafood, was not served on a tray with chopsticks, but presented on the naked body of a beautiful, sensual girl,” Emka writes in his first book.

Today, as he continues prowling the seedy underground for its latest trends, the former reporter is most surprised by the basic concept of sex as entertainment.

“You can find anything at anytime here,” the East Java native says over the pumping music in his black BMW, heading out for a night of research.

Clubs with sex menus, invite-only swingers parties and orgies at people’s private homes are detailed in Emka’s little black books.

 Arriving at the night’s chosen venue, Emka doesn’t need to wait in line. Well-known in nightlife circles, the doorman greets him and waves him through security.
Once inside, a scantily clad, pale-skinned beauty on stage makes eye contact with Emka. Recognizing him, she breaks into a smile and points.

They share a dance from a distance, and it’s clear why Emka fans remain curious about whether he’s an observer or a participant.

Emka, who is Muslim and studied at schools with strong Islamic backgrounds, including the Government Institute for Islamic Studies in Jakarta, makes a point of omitting graphically explicit material when he writes about “after-lunch stripteases,” “midnight lesbian packages” and “drive-thru sex.” …> go to article

 I am almost certain this article will increase the tourist arrivals at Soekarno-Hatta.

On the flip side…

From ANTARA

I am posting the entire article here.  You can read between the lines. It is more than obvious.

News Focus: Workers must not commit anarchism on May Day rally
By Bustanuddin

Jakarta (ANTARA News)- Some ten thousand workers are expected to launch rallies to mark international workers day or May Day on Thursday (May 1) in Jakarta and in its satellite towns of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi.

Although the workers have the right to stage rallies after getting permission but Manpower Affairs Minister Erman Suparno asked them not to create anarchism during the rallies.

In Jakarta an organization called Revolutionary Workers Command (Kobar) said on Tuesday it was preparing to mobilize about 10,000 workers for a rally to mark international workers day.

“The main gathering point for Kobar`s workers will be the West Irian Freedom Monument Square (Banteng Square),” Kobar spokesman Syahganda said.

He said the thousands of workers of Kobar would come from at least 21 labor unions in Jakarta and in its satellite towns.

The the labor unions include SP Pelindo II, SRBIINDO, SPOI, Gaspermindo, PPMI-98, Sarbumusi, FSPSI, SBNMI and KSPSI Bekasi.

To hold the rally, workers would converge on Banteng Square between 10 – 12 a.m, where the rally would be filled with orations by labor leaders voicing their demands, stage performances of street musicians, and the reading of an “Indonesian Labor Manifesto.”

“The manifesto will focus on criticizing national development which does not benefit the workers,” Syahganda said adding that the theme of the manifesto would be “Redirecting the Aim of Indonesia`s Development.”

After the orations at the Banteng Square, the Kobar mass would march to the State Palace to join about 40,000 other workers, he said.

Meanwhile, Jakarta Metropolitan police chief Insp.Gen. Adang Firman said his office would mobilize 15 thousand security personnel and the military to control the mass rallies.

Adang made the remark after meeting with Jakarta Vice Governor Prijanto here on Tuesday.

Prijanto said some groups of workers including the National Labor Union (SPN) had asked permission to launch a demonstration.

Police chief Adang Firman also said his men will take stern action against any one trying to disrupt peace.

“Those who broke the parliamentary building gate two years ago have been brought to justice,” the police chief said.

Vice Governor Prijanto on the occasion also appreciated some groups of workers who intended to perform an art show including singing “Dangdut” songs to highlight May Day instead of launching rallies.

May Day in Bandung, West Java province to be observed by 2,000 industrial workers, will be commemorated in the People`s Struggle Monument (MPRJB) on Jalan Dipati Ukur.

Although May Day will fall on Thursdy (May 1) but it could also be observe on Wednesday.
Not scarred by rallies

Despite many demonstrations will happen in the country foreign investors also from China remained interested in doing business in Indonesia.

Some 70 Chinese investors have expressed keen interests in investment in different business fields in Indonesia, Deputy Chief of the Indonesian Mission in Beijing, Mohamad Oemar, said in Beijing recently.

Oemar was responding to a plan to organize an investment forum at the Indonesian Industry Ministry in Jakarta from May 15 to 16. The two-day meeting will serve as a forum between Chinese investors and Indonesian state officials and businessmen.

The forum was the fruit of efforts made by the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing to attract as many Chinese investors as possible to invest in Indonesia, he said.

He said Chinese investors had a high motivation to attend the forum. They would attend it not merely to get first hand information on investment opportunities but also to confirm their plan to invest in different business sectors in a number of regions in Indonesia.

“They will come not merely to get first hand information. They have expressed their seriousness to invest in Indonesia,” he said.

Judging by the Chinese investors` seriousness, he expressed hope the central government as a regulator and private companies as business partners would prepare themselves for the inflow of Chinese investments.

The Chinese investors include oil company PetroChina and Bank of China.

According to a report from the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing, some of the Chinese investors have been operating in Indonesia.

Indonesia and China launched a strategic partnership in 2005 aimed among others at enhancing investment cooperation by increasing mutual understanding and networking among investment authorities, including the private sectors, and by creating more conducive eco-socio-political and legal climate for the flow of investments.

Indonesia hopes to raise its trade volume with China to 30 billion U.S. dollars by 2010.

It is of course expected that the rallies will not scare the would be investors. (*) …> go to article

But here is something worth watching and something I am in total agreement with IF it could be done in a transparent manner and for the benefit of the people of Indonesia.

From People’s Weekly World come this…

Indonesia: No free ride for international corporations

Protests involving unionists, students and women’s groups have engulfed Indonesia. Demands center on sovereignty over natural resources, food and access to education.

Workers demonstrated outside Exxon’s Jakarta offices March 12 for nationalization of oil production.

In the eastern city of Ternat, labor activists joined the Coalition for Women’s Concerns in rallying for state control of mines. Five students were wounded.

In Makassar in Sulawesi, students confronted the PT Inco Company, notorious for land evictions and pollution of land and waters.

Hundreds demonstrated in North Sumatra, Maumere, and Palu City during March. The Reuters report attributes a leading role in the protests to the National Liberation Party of Unity and the National Student League for Democracy. …>go to article

 Finally we get to religion and politics…

From Spero News

Playing with fire in Indonesia
Tuesday, April 29, 2008

By Walter Lohman

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) is Indonesia’s version of the Muslim Brotherhood. It is focused, like no other party, on the battle of ideas. And it is on a roll. In the 2004 national elections, it won 45 out of 550 seats in the Indonesian lower house (DPR), captured the speakership of the joint assembly (MPR), and joined the government with three cabinet seats. At the local level, largely out of the national and international spotlight, it has won 88 out of 149 elections.

Gambling with Indonesia’s Future

The Indonesian political elite know who they are dealing with. They are simply gambling. They believe they can turn the PKS’s success to their own advantage-whether ultimately to the good of the national interest or their own personal interests-while simultaneously containing their aims. One cannot help but imagine comparisons to Sukarno’s effort 40 years ago to balance the advantages and influence of the communists. His manipulations ended in epic disaster for the country.

Rather than jockeying for partnership with the PKS, mainline politicians would be better advised to spend their time addressing the real grievances that fuel support for radical opposition: corruption, poor public services, poverty, and the perceived lack of real political choice. And the United States should do what it can to help, whether with resources, economic opportunity, or just honest advice.

Where Indonesia may be headed in the long term is of concern to the United States for many reasons. Americans are not opposed to a role for religion in the public square, as any perusal of American history will attest. There is no reason that faith and liberty cannot flourish together. This matters to Americans because, in a world that accepts this as truism, we are all safer and our rights are more secure. By the same token, we know that religious intolerance and government coercion on behalf of one particular set of religious beliefs are precursors of a wider tyranny and, ultimately, insecurity. …> go to article

At this point I think it would be proper to end with something from Jakartass regarding the increasingly volatile situation with Ahmadiyah.  But first one might want to consider the words below after checking  this link to Indonesian Matters.

“I am now witnessing a darkening intolerance going hand-in-hand with the deepening of Indonesian democracy is sad. Although some, such as Rima Fauzi argue that the alarming increase of intolerance among people of different groups and religions … could be the beginning of Indonesia’s journey into medieval times, I tend to disagree.

And this is in spite of such outrages as the burning of a mosque belonging to a supposedly heretical Muslim sect, Ahmadiyah, by a mob of presumably underemployed hooligans. That the government is being urged to ban the sect, founded over a hundred years ago, and that SBY should ignore Article 28 (1) of the Constitution which guarantees the right to worship the god (or gods?) of one’s choosing is an indication that there is currently little focus on the problems facing this country other than the here and now. The recent ‘anti-pornography’ bans on dangdut singers, the suggestion that masseuses should wear chastity belts, are surely just signs of sexual immaturity. (Those men who are so easily discomforted in the presence of women should be ones put under lock and key.)

Society has yet to learn how to make its way in the world following Suharto’s abdication ten years ago. Having been bottle-fed from birth, and punished, often brutally, by Suharto’s New Order, Indonesia’s emerging democracy is barely past the toddler stage. Children of just ten years old are rarely able to think beyond their immediate concerns and still tend to say still ‘gimme, gimme’. This accounts both for the gross consumerism and the lack of awareness that others have a right to personal space.

If you think about motorists with their shiny cars disregarding pedestrians and ignoring the white lines painted on the roads in order to rush into the next bottleneck, you get the picture. It’s just like children with toys which they won’t allow others to play with. Readers of the local news are well-aware that it is the so-called élite who are generally caught with their pants down and their hands outstretched. They are unable to offer true leadership because they have always been sheepish followers.

Yet it is the children, the next generation, that we have to look to for guidance. If they can see through the lies which their indoctrinated teachers and parents give them, and that older generations have shown little regard for the future well-being of their successors, then maybe, hopefully, the youth of today won’t fuck things up so much when it’s their turn to operate the levers of power.

I believe the world can be made a better place before it’s too late and that the majority of today’s children offer the hope and tolerance which Indonesia sorely needs.

But then, I remain an unashamed idealist.

And you?”

Sorry for such a long post.  Just pretend you were in a traffic jam of news.

Jakarta (informal) part 2

Photo by Quiseng 

Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Greek for oikos (house) and nomos (custom or law), hence “rules of the house(hold).” …> go to site

Economics at its most basic might be thought of as the ways in which we make a living. The economy can also be described in terms  of the relationships between supply and demand.

 The rules of the household (a few examples)

Begging

One evening while taking the new communter train from Jakarta to Depok with my friend Budi I noticed a man several cars down crawling along the floor of the train carriage. He would stop occasionally and collect a few coins or rupiah form the commuters. Others ignorded him.  As he approached where we were sitting I reached into my pocket for the stack of coins which I had been accumulating through the day.  He held out his hand and I gave him the coins.  Budi did nothing. The man moved on.  Budi then told me, “Maybe if you follow him home you will see what a nice house he lives in“.  I took this to mean that the man was either faking his disability or he was some sort of professional beggar working his audience.  Shortly after that the train made a stop and a young blind man with his mother walked on board.  He had strapped on his back a small portable karioki machine and proceeded to sing into his microphone with a very good voice.  At this Budi reached into his pocket and handed over his coins.  Budi could tell the difference.  I could not. It is still hard to this day.

There are an estimated 200,000 street vendors in Jakarta each month they pay out about $1.5 billion rupiah for protection, in extortion, or for illegal fees. There are perhaps 80,000 street kids who make their living by begging.

In Spetmeber 2007, the Jakarta City Council approved a bylaw that bans busking, begging and street hawking as well as banning people from giving money to beggars, vendors and hawkers.

Initiated by the city’s departing governor, Sutioyoso, the bylaw says that anyone who is caught giving money to beggars, and others of their ilk, will be fined of 50 million rupiah.From World Street Children News …>go to site 

Mohammad Yazid, Jakarta

“A beggar recently scolded my wife for refusing to give him some money at a busy intersection in Cempaka Putih (famously known as Coca-Cola intersection), Central Jakarta.

“How stingy, so what’s the headscarf for?” he said to my wife. I told my wife not to roll down the car window because I was afraid he was a crook.

Bluffing and smirking have become forms of pressure exerted by beggars operating at nearly every crossroad in Jakarta.

They employ various other methods at other places such as public transportation and residential areas. Some use the conventional style of pretending to be starving or seriously ill, while others apply the criminal way of extorting money from passengers by appearing as alcoholics or newly released convicts.

Women have an effective trick of approaching benevolent people and exploiting the innocent looks of children under the age of five and carrying “hired infants” at Jakarta intersections.

There is no official data on the total number of beggars in Jakarta, but according to Suciardi, head of the commercial sex rehabilitation service at the Jakarta Social Welfare Office, their numbers increase by 40 percent during Ramadhan through Idul Fitri, from the 2,295 normally found in the city.

Chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection, Seto Mulyadi, said the number of street children in Greater Jakarta reached 80,000.

Amid the prevailing economic difficulties and different mishaps affecting Indonesia, many people choose begging as their profession, because they often make more than those who work at government offices or private businesses. Earning about Rp 50,000 to Rp 75,000 daily on average, in a month a beggar can make Rp 1.5 million, far more than Jakarta’s minimum wage of Rp 900,000″.

 Black Markets

Begging, of course, is small change compared to Jakarta’s black markets. Havoscope Global Black Market Indexes lists  the market value of Indonesia’s black market at $3.32 billion (US). The counterfeit goods market value (books, cable, music, movies, and computer software) is listed at $458 million (US).  Black market handphone sales may be as high as $370 million (US). The value of the illegal drug trade is not listed but may also be in the millions of dollars as is indicated by the  recent incident of 600,000 ecstasy pills seized from a shop-house in Cengkareng, Tangerang district, Banten province, last February 26.

Human Trafficking

 from Human Trafficking.org

“Indonesia is primarily a source, but also a transit and destination country for human trafficking. UNICEF estimates that 100,000 women and children are trafficked annually for commercial sexual exploitation in Indonesia and abroad, 30 percent of the female prostitutes in Indonesia are below 18, and 40,000-70,000 Indonesian children are victims of sexual exploitation. The East Java Children’s Protection Agency estimates that at least 100,000 women and children are trafficked annually from, through, and to East Java.

Indonesian women and children are trafficked for sexual and labor exploitation in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, and the Middle East.  A significant number of Indonesian women voluntarily migrate to work as domestic servants but are later coerced into abusive conditions. Some Indonesian women are recruited by false promises of employment and are later coerced into prostitution or forced labor. Ethnic Chinese women and teenage girls in the West Kalimantan district are recruited as mail-order brides for men in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Indonesian women from the Riau Islands, Bali, and Lombok are used for sex tourists from Malaysia and Singapore”.

 from Fact book on Global Sexual Exploitation – Indonesia

“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”.

Other sites (grim and enlightening) addressing this issue are at:

 Child Prostituion - Indonesia

Intersections: Traditional and Emergent Sex Work in Urban Indonesia

Then there are these sites. 

Best Ladies Escort Agency in Jakarta

Travel Sex Guide Indonesia

Jakarta After Dark

And…finally

from AFP Penises and Prayer Mats: Its Sexual Healing Indonesian Style

“A consultation with Haji Baban is an encounter with the arcane. Sitting cross-legged in semi-darkness, the patient is asked to detail his wishes with the visual aid of a selection of carved wooden phalluses.

Then comes the diagnosis, delivered after a contemplative silence.

Solemnly, Haji Baban intones that the client’s appendage is “fairly average,” and offers to conjour up a six-centimetre (2.3-inch) extension.

The prescription for such whopping growth is a 10-day course of eating and drinking mystery concoctions and secret potions, with the first dose of bitter berries to be taken immediately, washed down with dark brown liquid.

An assistant then brings a phallus-shaped bamboo tube containing a roll of sticky coconut rice that has to be swallowed whole to avoid what Haji Baban describes ominously as “terrible genital consequences”.

Haji Baban ends the consultation with a vegetable oil that the client must promise to apply daily with a specific hand action from base to tip. And no eating green bananas or citronella, he orders.

The daily cost for treatment is between 700,000 and one million rupees (70-100 dollars), depending on the options selected.

This is a hefty sum for many in Indonesia but the imposing mansions being built around Caringin seem to indicate that plenty of men are willing to pay.

A local motorcycle taxi driver gestures to the newly-built homes and says: “They belong to Mak Erot.”

A Last Note

From begging to the black market to human trafficking to penis enlargement. Such are the rules of the Indonesian household. 

I suppose I should be editorializing or moralizing at this point.  In this post I have moved from  the lighter side (is there one?) to the darker side (most certainly there is one) of the informal economies of Jakarta.   I now see that this was sort of an inevitable progression. As it is with all households everything is connected to everything else. It is there in the tension between the rich and poor, the politics and economics of gender, the educated and the uneducated, those with power and those who are disenfranchised. 

As Mary S. Zurbuchen writes in Images of Culture and National Development in Indonesia: The Cockroach Opera, “if the poor of Jakarta are like cockroaches, then these purportedly disgusting insects, instead of signifying filth and being driven from sight, must be welcomed. Victorious and pervasive, they persist everywhere, from the sprawling marbel villas of luxury housing estates like Pondok Indah to the immense slums of Tanjung Priok. The roach should not be counted a symbol of the lowlife here but rather a ubiquitous survivor of thousands of fantasies of ultimate extermination”.   

And still, time after time Susan Abeyasekere’s words from Jakarta: A History just won’t go away, “the central fallacy [of Jakarta] which has persisted from 1619 to the present is that it is possible to create a city for the privileged few, cut off from the countryside and the majority of the poor”.  

This goes to the who, what, why, and where of Jakarta’s informal economies. And it is clear, as the reality of the city declares,  that it is not possible to create a city for “the privileged few”.

It is true for Jakarta as it is for any place else you can point to on the planet.