By William J. And for many young people who come to Bali for a fleeting holiday, having a fling is top of their activity list. Yuli is from Java and has been working as a prostitute in the Legian area for the past two years. She charges Rp, for one-off sex, Rp1 million to spend the night with her Rp, for regulars , and says she works at a laundry during the day and that her family back home has no idea what she does at night; neither do her friends.
While prostitution is illegal in Indonesia, it is viewed by police and judges as a minor transgression, and those arrested are often charged just a fine of around Rp, and if they cannot pay are held for 10 days, a state prosecutor told The Times. The penal code holds lengthy prison terms for those convicted of organizing prostitution rings, of up to 15 years, as well as for child-sex or trafficking.
They ask me for money then. I have to do it to live. Even if a customer is ugly, I have to be nice to him. Yuli said that since September, she had had few customers, frequently only three a week, but that there was a lot of competition. At one nightclub she frequents, she says there are as many as prostitutes looking for clients every night. I worry about diseases β AIDS, kissing diseases. But I don t select customers; I just take what comes.
Sometimes customers want to keep in touch; sometimes they book me for a week to go sightseeing, enjoy their holidays, go to restaurants, travel around Bali. Sometimes they want to have a relationship with me, but without paying. Some are not nice to me. Now people are even less happy. For fellow Javan Lea, 26, a night on the job means sex with between two and four men. She said most of her customers were Australians, none Indonesian. While working as a prostitute means big earnings for the single mother of one, she would rather do something else to make ends meet.
This is the only work I do. She said she told her family she was working at a supermarket in Bali and had no idea how long she would continue as a prostitute. If the heterosexual sex industry in Bali is thriving, so to is its gay counterpart. At one bar on the Seminyak-area Jl. Dyana Pura, known for its gay bars and clubs, the entire staff, including the barmen, are up for hire, an expatriate resident who frequents the establishments told The Times.
