Introduction

Prostitution is a deep-rooted, long-standing societal challenge faced by Southeast Asia, especially in Thailand and Cambodia. The prevalence of sex tourism, (child) prostitution, (child) sex trafficking and (child) pornography, compared to Thailand and Cambodia, is lower in Indonesia (Elias and Holliday, 2019). However, in Indonesian contexts, because of the controversies the discourse on the construction of prostitution and the application of interventions in alleviating sex work practices is of substantial scholarly significance (Riswanda et al, 2016). Indonesia has been recognised as the world’s largest Muslim country. Per Islamic Law, prostitution and extramarital sex in general have been deemed highly socially, morally and religiously unacceptable. On 6 December 2022, Jakarta passed a controversial law criminalising extramarital sex within Indonesian territories (Mao, 2022).

Such legislation implies that commercial sex workers would be further discriminated against and marginalised, as Indonesians performing non-marital sex could be sanctioned and imprisoned (Otte, 2022). In this policy article, in response to Indonesia’s recent criminalisation of extramarital sex, the author will problematise how such legislation compounds domestic sex workers’ encounters with poverty. Then, the author will visit Indonesia’s minimum tolerance of prostitution, arguing how such an impractical policy hinders Jakarta from eradicating the socioeconomic root causes of prostitution. Next, the author will suggest policy directions that Jakarta should take into account to deconstruct the problems of underprivileged, marginalised and impoverished women and girls entering the sex industry.

Socioeconomic root causes of prostitution

Prostitution, despite the lack of tolerance, has been rampant throughout Indonesia, especially in populated and tourist-popular regions, including Jakarta and Bali (Demartoto, 2013). Women and girls constantly encountering transitory or chronic financial constraints, may be sold by their parents into the sex trade, becoming victims of sex trafficking (Suryaningsi et al, 2021). Here women and girls in remote, rural areas have limited to no education opportunities. These deprived cohorts are discouraged from developing the knowledge and skills that are necessary in the conventional labour market (Fauk et al, 2018). This is compounded by Indonesia’s profound gender inequality, which hinders women and girls from accessing better-skilled jobs that include better employment conditions. With little to no career aspirations, parents may sell their rural daughters to sex traffickers so long as the daughter’s family is paid enough (Riswanda, 2015). Along with forced prostitution, voluntary sex work also occurs. Given such ingrained educational deprivation, labour market discrimination and gender inequality, those women and girls who are subject to such systematic denial and rejection become frustrated about their employment situation, prompting their decision to enter the sex industry as an alternative means of subsistence satisfaction or even for the improvement of their living standards.

Under poverty and given Indonesia’s lack of rural infrastructure and social protection development, women and girls have little access to basic public services, including education, healthcare and housing support (McCawley, 2015). Not only do such systematic rejections propel these female cohorts to enter the sex industry, but those leaving prostitution are likely to return to work as commercial sex workers. This is because they are dissatisfied with the lack of social welfare and benefits and salary levels they can secure if they work as hard labourers other than sex workers (Sohn, 2015). However, entering the sex industry underpins the belief in Indonesian society that women and girls are commodifiable (Shirazi, 2010). Such a gender-discriminatory belief renders female cohorts to be more vulnerable to the underlying unequal power of relations in the forms of, for example, sexism (where females are deemed subordinates to males). This heightens the vicious cycle between the experience of poverty, deprivation and gender discrimination and engagement in sex work. If stigmatisation against females is not satisfactorily addressed, the unequal power relations in Indonesian society will be compounded, driving more underprivileged cohorts to enter the sex industry and become sexually exploited and abused. The more women and girls work in the sex industry, the more stigmatisation against prostitutes and females, in general, will develop. As a result, these underprivileged and deprived women and girls will be trapped in long-term socio-occupational discrimination. They are barred from gaining socio-cultural acceptance and are discouraged from re-entering the conventional labour market for career advancement.

Anti-extramarital sex criminalisation

For sex workers who are trapped in socio-occupational marginalisation and rejection, they are given very limited life chances to make a living if they leave the sex industry. The latest criminal code of sanctioning extramarital sex further marginalises domestic sex workers, compounding their encounters with poverty, labour and sexual exploitation and stigmatisation. From a religious perspective, it is understandable that Jakarta hopes to build a society with little to no tolerance of extramarital sex, as sex outside of marriage is highly condemned as immoral and unacceptable per Islamic law. However, such a law has posed unintentionally adverse consequences that are detrimental to the lives of underprivileged women and girls. Given the religious denouncement and lack of cultural acceptance, prostitution has long been disdained as dirty and delinquent in Indonesia. Passing the anti-extramarital sex criminal code has deepened the domestic culture of shame and stigma against local sex workers, making it difficult for prostitutes to seek help when needed (Sudd, 2019). Taking a look at the Thailand model, prostitution has been criminalised since 1960 (Montgomery, 2022). However, criminalisation alone has deterred the growth of the Thai sex industry. This is because many commercial sex and entertainment businesses have simply relocated to the underground economy. Thai prostitutes working in an underregulated, underground economy have been at significantly high risk of being physically, verbally and sexually assaulted and exploited on an ongoing basis (Kraiwanit, 2016). Given the illegal status of the profession, prostitutes working in the underground economy cannot overtly reach out to law enforcement authorities for legal protection when needed. Such a socio-legal loophole has put the labour safety and wellbeing of prostitutes at significant stake. Similarly, passing the high-profile anti-extramarital sex legislation in Indonesia has sharpened the societal discrimination and stigmatisation against whoever works as a sex worker. Their labour rights will be further neglected. When Indonesian prostitutes work in an underground, underregulated economy, even if they are financially exploited by their bosses (that is, brothel owners, bar managers or massage parlour owners) (Sutinah and Kinuthia, 2019), they cannot seek legal protection to safeguard their deserved yet undermined labour rights.

Once anti-extramarital sex legislation was passed, prostitutes’ labour status could not be legally recognised. As mentioned, these prostitutes often encounter difficulties in accessing education, healthcare, housing and other public services. Without being recognised as formal labourers, sex workers are barred from being entitled to any welfare and benefits designated for labourers in the formal sector. Sex workers, who work in the informal, underground sector, are, therefore, subject to a higher degree of financial constraints. Criminalising extramarital sex may plausibly negatively affect sex workers’ revenues. Worse still, they have now been systematically deprived of accessing public services. Such dilemmas have undermined their financial wellbeing to a large extent, pushing them further into poverty and social disadvantage.

Criminalising extramarital sex, furthermore, worsens the difficulty for sex workers in negotiating the practice of safe sex. As extramarital sex is now illegal, the demand for commercial sex may plausibly reduce. Sex workers may avoid negotiating the use of contraceptive methods as they are afraid of losing customers (Putra et al, 2020). Also, by passing the anti-extramarital sex legislation, Indonesia has created a broader culture of secrecy and shame that causes prostitutes further difficulties in discussing safe sex practices with their clients. Such circumstances have put women and girls in the sex industry at higher risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases and other health-related issues. As such criminalisation has hindered them from seeking healthcare services, sex workers are subject to significant social and economic disadvantages.

For those experiencing violence and abuse (Hayati et al, 2013), sex workers are hampered from reporting their encounters to others, let alone to law enforcement officers. As extramarital sex is now among the least culturally and, especially, legally acceptable behaviours, unveiling one’s profession as working as a prostitute or one’s sexual encounters with non-marital partners has been increasingly deemed culturally taboo. The impotence to seek support in the justice system has consolidated sex workers’ confrontation with significant issues of poverty, social stigmatisation and occupational vulnerability.

Discussion

Unlike Thailand and Cambodia, Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world. In Thailand and Cambodia, as two Buddhist countries, Buddhism does not define prostitution as morally unacceptable. Therefore, while sex workers may still be stigmatised in Thailand and Cambodia to some degree, the populations in these two Buddhist countries, relative to neighbouring countries, have established a notably higher degree of cultural acceptance and normalisation of paid sex. In Indonesia, however, the religious and historical heritage of practising Islamic law has limited the levels of cultural acceptance of prostitution, or other extramarital sex, the country and its population could enjoy.

Minimum- or zero-tolerance of prostitution does not help eliminate the prevalence of sex work, however. Unless the root causes of sex work are eradicated there will continue to be a sizeable market for the sex trade. Socioeconomically, poverty, unemployment and the shortage of education opportunities (and these root causes’ relationships to gender inequality) are all driving factors of engagement in commercial sex. Indonesia can deny the delivery of socio-occupational welfare and benefits to sex workers as prostitution is not legally recognised as a formal profession. However, Indonesia has to continue expanding the coverage of its delivery of social protection packages to domestic citizens. Indonesia can deny the recognition of prostitutes, but it has to recognise prostitutes as local citizens. Social protection packages, including unemployment subsidies, housing subsidies, financial handouts and free education opportunities have to be distributed to all males and females on a gender-blind basis. Rural, remote women and girls should not be overlooked when allocating public resources to Indonesian citizens. Otherwise, women and girls from impoverished and underprivileged backgrounds will continue to be driven to enter the sex industry either as sex trafficking victims or as voluntary sex workers.

Here, Indonesian prostitutes may be denied from accessing healthcare services as employees or wage labourers. However, they should be entitled to healthcare resources as Indonesian citizens. As sex workers have often been subject to physical and sexual vulnerability and illnesses, they need to be able to seek healthcare support. Stigmatisation against the profession of prostitution, however, discourages many sex workers from seeking healthcare services in overcrowded public hospitals. Indonesia should actively fund more local governing agencies to develop localised clinics that include the provision of services such as sexually transmitted diseases screening, testing and treatment, and psychological counselling services. As sex workers have been severely exploited, abused, discriminated against and stigmatised, the delivery of subsidised psychological support, which is supposed to be accessible by all Indonesian citizens in need, must be arranged as one of the key humane interventions Indonesia should employ.

Conclusion

Criminalising extramarital sex means lowering the tolerance of commercial sex. However, criminalisation per se underpins the socioeconomic construction of prostitution. Criminalising extramarital sex alone (without simultaneously eradicating the root causes of commercial sex) is counter-encouraging the engagement in and development of paid sex. Therefore, while, owing to religious reasons, Jakarta is highly unlikely to protect the safety, health and wellbeing of domestic prostitutes, the government should actively deconstruct the socioeconomic drivers of engagement in sex work. Policymakers and policy-oriented experts should closely, ongoingly, evaluate the rates of, and gender ratios of, the root causes of prostitution, including poverty, unemployment and educational underachievement. The more continuous data are made available, the more tailor-made and predictive intervention policies Indonesia can arrange to discourage women and girls from (re-)entering the sex industry.

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Conflict of interest

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.